At least 3 killed, 6 wounded in explosion in western Mexican state of Michoacan

MEXICO CITY (AP) – An explosion outside a local police station in the western Mexican state of Michoacan Saturday killed at least three people and wounded six, local and federal security officials said.

The explosion came as the federal government has stepped up security activities in the state, sending in additional troops after two recent high-profile assassinations.

The Attorney General’s office said in a statement that a vehicle exploded on a central avenue in Coahuayana. “The driver died at the scene, while two other people died in the regional hospital, and six others were injured,” it said.

The two people who died in the hospital were community police officers, said Hector Zepeda, commander of the Coahuayana community police. He said the remains of some of the victims were found scattered in the area of the explosion, which also damaged nearby buildings.

“With this operation (from the federal government) a lot of marines came,” Zepeda said. “We stopped doing patrols because the operation is going on.”

The community police, which patrol various rural communities, are a remnant of the civilian vigilante forces that took up arms more than a decade ago to defend communities from drug cartels, and then were formalized by the state.

Coahuayana is near the Pacific coast in western Michoacan and the border with the state of Colima, a stronghold of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Saturday’s explosion happened while Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla was in Mexico City to celebrate with President Claudia Sheinbaum the anniversary of their Morena party’s arrival in power seven years ago.

Ramírez Bedolla and Sheinbaum have been criticized for the deteriorating security situation in Michoacan where numerous drug cartels are fighting to control territory, terrorizing locals.

At least three of the six drug cartels that the Trump administration designated as terrorist organizations – Jalisco New Generation, United Cartels and The New Michoacan Family – operate here, in addition to a slew of homegrown armed splinter groups, some supported by the Sinaloa Cartel.

Explosives dropped from drones, buried as mines or planted alongside roadways are increasingly employed by criminal groups operating in the state. Last year, some 3,000 explosive devices were seized in the state compared to 160 in 2022. So far this year, there have been more than 2,000, according to the state security agency.

Michoacan is a key importer of chemical precursors for synthetic drugs. In the last two months, 17 drug laboratories were dismantled by Mexican authorities there. The state also produces avocados exported to the U.S. and is a major producer of limes, sectors extorted by cartels for years.

The state government said Saturday in a statement that an “explosive device” was responsible, but did not provide details. Images circulating online showed a completely burned out vehicle.

Last month, Sheinbaum sent 2,000 troops – on top of the 4,300 permanent ones and 4,000 in neighboring states – to Michoacan following the killings of an outspoken representative of the lime growers and a popular mayor standing up to the cartels.