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'Act of Terror': Mexican Gangsters Kill Police in Car Bomb Attack

Mexican security forces (Getty Images)
July 12, 2023

Suspected gang members in western Mexico killed four security officials and two civilians and injured a dozen other people after an attack with explosives on Tuesday night, which the local government described as an "act of terror."

The blast that hit police and officials working at the Jalisco state attorney general's office was "an unprecedented act and shows what these organized crime groups are capable of", state governor Enrique Alfaro said on Twitter.

Alfaro told a press conference on Wednesday the overnight death toll of three had risen to six, and that 12 people were injured in the blast that occurred in the municipality of Tlajomulco to the south of state capital Guadalajara.

The governor said the explosion resulted from a "trap" set by the perpetrators who has phoned in an anonymous tip that there were human remains buried at the scene.

"This call was so our police would go there and could be attacked with these explosive devices," he said.

Describing it as an "act of terror", Alfaro said organized crime was trying to spread fear and panic.

A spokesperson for the Jalisco government said three of the dead worked at the attorney general's office, one was a local police officer and two were civilians.

Jalisco and nearby communities have been battling to curb gang violence that has frustrated the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The attack follows a similar incident late last month where security forces in the neighboring state of Guanajuato went to investigate a phone tip that there were bodies in a car. The vehicle blew up after they reached the scene.

One member of Mexico's National Guard died and at least three more were injured in that blast, which deputy security minister Luis Rodriguez Bucio this week described as a "car bomb".

(Reporting by Dave Graham; writing by Natalia Siniawski; editing by Jason Neely and David Gregorio)

Published under: Crime , Mexico , Terrorism