ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

STEVEN GUTKIN

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP)—Pablo Escobar, one of the world’s most wanted men, died in a rooftop shootout with police and soldiers Thursday after reigning for a decade over a ruthless global cocaine empire.

His hideout exposed by a traced phone call, Escobar was killed in Medellin, the industrial city that served as the base for his trafficking network.

Authorities said Escobar and a bodyguard fired at troopers who raided their two-story house. Police returned fire and killed them both as a barefoot Escobar tried to escape over a rooftop.

‘‘They offered resistance and died on the spot,’‘ Prosecutor General Gustavo de Greiff said.

Escobar’s death was not expected to seriously affect the daily flow of tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States and other countries. His role in the drug trade declined drastically during 16 months as a fugitive.

But many Colombians breathed a sigh of relief after the killing of Escobar, who was accused of murdering hundreds of people during a reign marked by assassinations and car bombings that blew apart neighborhoods, shopping centers and a passenger airliner.

President Cesar Gaviria said in a nationally broadcast speech that Escobar’s death ‘‘is a step toward the end of drug trafficking’‘ and shows ‘‘it is possible to defeat evil.’‘

‘‘We have demonstrated that the Colombian state is much more powerful than any criminal organization,’‘ he said later in an interview on CNN.

Not all Colombians were happy, however, about the killing of Escobar, who had been generous to the people of his native Medellin.

More than a thousand onlookers gathered after the shooting and some whistled derisively as the troops, heavily armed and clad in camouflage fatigues, walked by.

Authorities tracked down Escobar through a phone call he made Monday to a radio station to complain about the treatment of his family by Germany, Army commander Gen. Hernan Guzman said. Germany turned Escobar’s family away after they sought asylum this week.

Escobar, 44, was killed by members of a 3,000-man police and army force that had hunted for him since he escaped from prison in July 1992. He had apparently been hiding in the Medellin home for several weeks.

Gen. Octavio Vargas, assistant director of the national police, said the raid was a ‘‘commando-style, impeccable operation.’‘

A witness told RCN radio that the raiders fired their weapons into the air in jubilation after they killed Escobar and yelled ‘‘We won!’‘

Escobar’s mother Mermilda Gaviria, who is not related to Colombia’s president, identified her son’s body an hour after the shootout, authorities said. The body, clad in blue jeans and a blue T-shirt, was taken away on a stretcher.

De Greiff said a $8.7 million reward offered by the United States and Colombia for Escobar’s capture would not be paid, because the information that led authorities to him came from government intelligence sources.

President Clinton sent a congratulatory telegram to the Colombian president.

‘‘Hundreds of Colombians—brave police officers and innocent people—lost their lives as a result of Escobar’s terrorism. Your work honors the memory of all of these victims.’‘

Stephen Greene, acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said in Washington that the shooting sent a message to drug traffickers.

‘‘No matter how powerful they are, no matter how much influence they say they have, no matter how much money they have, they are not immune to being pursued by legitimate governments,’‘ he said.

Escobar had been hunted not only by the security force but by a vigilante squad called People Persecuted By Pablo Escobar (PEPES), which had murdered several of his associates and threatened his family.

Just three days ago, the drug lord’s wife and two children sought political asylum in Germany after Colombia’s government threatened to stop protecting them. They were turned away, returned to Bogota and were staying in a luxury hotel under army protection.

The vigilante squad is believed to be composed of members of the rival Cali drug cartel, disenchanted former Medellin cartel members and police avenging the deaths of officers slain by the cartel.

At one time, Escobar’s drug cartel was the world’s biggest exporter of cocaine. But after his escape from prison, his empire was splintered by bloody internal rivalries and attacks by vigilantes and security forces. The rival Cali cartel took over as the world’s main supplier of cocaine.

De Greiff noted in a recent interview that the Cali cartel is less violent than the Medellin. ‘‘They are not terrorists,’‘ he said. ‘‘They have killed among themselves but have not attacked the general public like Escobar did.’‘

The drug lord began his criminal career as a car thief, but rose to become one of the richest men in the world. He was ranked 62nd in Forbes magazine’s 1991 list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of more than $2.5 billion.

His riches were matched by his ruthlessness.

Escobar was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people—including presidential candidates, judges, a newspaper publisher and police—in a series of assassinations and car bombings.

Escobar surrendered to Colombian police in 1991 after receiving assurances that he would be treated leniently and would not be extradited to the United States for trial on drug charges.

He was placed in a luxury jail outside Medellin, where he continued to control his drug empire. But he escaped when the government decided to move him and several of his lieutenants to a regular jail.

The noose had been tightening for months around Escobar. On Oct. 11, the government force almost caught him in a mountain hideout near Medellin.

All nine cartel lieutenants who escaped with Escobar have either surrendered or been killed.