Mexican security forces on Thursday arrested one son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in an operation that triggered fighting in the western city of Culiacan, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said.

Ovidio Guzman is one of the sons who have assumed control of part of the notorious cartel run by their father until he was extradited to the United States in 2017.

Heavily armed gunmen in four-by-four trucks fought an intense battle with Mexican security forces Thursday in Culiacan, capital of "El Chapo" Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.

Sustained, heavy gunfire rocked the city in a battle that left blazing vehicles strewn across the street and sent terrified residents running for shelter, said AFP journalists at the scene.

Images carried on Mexican television showed army and police forces under assault by gunmen armed with heavy machine guns.

Sources in the Sinaloa state government speaking on condition of anonymity said police officers had been wounded, but did not have a detailed toll.

They also said an unknown number of inmates had escaped from the Aguaruto prison in Culiacan amid the chaos.

The state government said in a statement that it was "working to restore calm and order in the face of the high-impact incidents that have occurred in recent hours in various points around Culiacan."

The battle broke out in the afternoon near the state prosecutor's office, when masked gunmen blocked traffic and opened fire, causing panicked drivers to abandon their cars in the middle of the street.

The fighting then spread to several other parts of the city. Gunmen blocked roads and highways around the city into the evening, bringing the capital to a standstill.

"El Chapo," 62, was sentenced to life in prison in July for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States over the course of a quarter-century.

However, his Sinaloa cartel remains one of the most powerful in Mexico.

Ovidio and his brother Alfredo – known as "Los Chapitos," or The Little Chapos – have tried to fill their father's shoes, but anti-narcotics experts portray them as flashy party boys who have little ability to run the business side of the cartel.