LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico (AP) — The recently killed leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel had been hiding out in a wood hut in the mountains and people in the area tipped off security forces to its existence, a Mexican official said Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Nazario Moreno was riding a mule near the hut in Michoacan state when he was confronted by troops early Sunday and killed in a gunbattle, said the official, who agreed to discuss the hunt only on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to make the details public.