MEXICO CITY - Prosecutors sought to keep a Mexican musician and Latin Grammy winner in custody after he was detained at a party reportedly attended by drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed Wednesday.

The attorney general's office said Thursday it had requested to keep Ramon Ayala and seven other musicians in custody due to contradictions in their statements. They had been detained as witnesses to a raid on December 11 at a party in the town of Tepoztlan, outside Mexico City.

Three gunmen were killed and 11 others suspected members of the Beltran Leyva cartel were detained during the raid.

On Wednesday, seven other members of the cartel ? including leader Arturo Beltran Leyva ? were killed in a shootout with Mexican marines in the nearby city of Cuernavaca.

The National Commission of Human Rights said Thursday that Ayala and the other musicians had issued a complaint over their prolonged detention.

Twenty four prostitutes also detained at the party were released on Monday, according to an official from the attorney general's office.

Mexican bands playing "norteno" music, like Ayala, often sing about drug trafficking and violence.