CULIACAN, Mexico — Officials say a 20-year-old state beauty queen has been killed in northern Mexico during a running gun battle between soldiers and the gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with.

The prosecutor of the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa says the body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez has been turned over to relatives for burial.

Prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said Monday that Flores Gamez was traveling in one of the vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and shootout on Saturday.

Her body was found lying next to an assault rifle.

She was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February.

In 2008, another Mexican beauty queen was detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations but was later released.