Amid the escalation of cartel violence in Mexico, 16 militants were killed and 3 police officers were wounded in a car bomb explosion. This was reported by the Associated Press agency, UNN writes.
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In Mexico's violent southern state of Guerrero, at least 16 people were killed in multiple clashes between Mexican security forces and suspected criminals on Thursday. On the same day, three police officers were injured when a car bomb exploded near a police station in western Mexico.
The first firefight took place in the city of Tekpan de Galeana, near the Pacific coast, where two people were killed and four others were wounded. Later, security forces clashed with a criminal group that attacked a military base in the same area, killing 14 militants.
Also on Thursday, a car bomb exploded near a police station in the state of Guanajuato, injuring three police officers. The explosion damaged the police station, four buildings and several residential buildings, but only the police officers were injured, the department said.
Authorities reported that another explosion, likely a second car bomb, occurred in the neighboring town of Yerekuaro. Although no one was injured, the force of the second explosion was enough to rip the tiled roof off the building, blacken the facades of surrounding shops, and set a police patrol pickup on fire.
The near-simultaneous attacks in two different cities, located about half an hour away from each other, point to the involvement of drug cartels that have been fighting bloody battles for territory in Guanajuato for years.
Officials say the violence in the state is linked to a conflict between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco cartel New Generation, one of the most powerful in all of Mexico.
Libya's Governor Garcia said that an air and ground operation involving state security forces has begun to support the municipal police.
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In Mexico, there have been more than 450,000 drug-related murders since the government began using the army to fight the cartels in 2006.
President Claudia Scheinbaum, who took office on October 1, promised to continue her predecessor's strategy of using social policies to fight crime at its roots and to make better use of intelligence.
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The northwestern region, a stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel, has also seen a surge in violence following the July arrest of drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in the United States. Last month, he pleaded not guilty to a drug trafficking case in the United States, in which he is accused of participating in a conspiracy to murder and ordering torture.
On Monday, Mexican troops shot dead 19 suspected Sinaloa cartel members after they were attacked.