MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two more members of Mexico’s armed forces have been killed by an improvised landmine, just days after two soldiers were killed in a similar explosion, officials confirmed Thursday.
The blasts, both in the western state of Michoacan, mark an unprecedented week-long death toll from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, planted by drug cartels in Mexico.
Carlos Torres, Michoacan’s interior minister, said the devices, often described as powerful pipe bombs, were apparently placed around drug laboratories or cartel camps. But he suggested the bombs may have been intended to ward off rival gangs, and were not necessarily aimed at killing members of the armed forces.
Trusted news and daily treats, straight to your inbox
See for yourself: The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
“They place these types of devices around certain key areas, such as (drug) laboratories or encampments or places where organized crime exists, for their enemies or opponents,” Torres said.
Michoacan’s state government said one of the victims in Wednesday’s latest explosion was an army sergeant and the other was a member of the National Guard. Torres said they died while on patrol in a southern part of the state dominated by the Jalisco drug cartel.
The National Guard is a militarized force that often patrols with the military and often has active duty soldiers in its ranks.
On Monday, a similar explosion killed two soldiers and injured five others in another part of the state dominated by the United Cartels gang.
Torres said more improvised mines have been located and deactivated.
The Jalisco Cartel has been embroiled in a bloody, years-long battle with the United Cartels – mainly made up of a gang known as the Viagras – for control of Michoacan, home to both laboratories that produce synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, and Pacific. coastal ports used to smuggle drugs and the precursor chemicals used to make them.
The military had previously acknowledged that there had been only six deaths from IEDs between 2018 and 2024.
Previous attacks on law enforcement have also used bomb-dropping drones, and the military could not confirm whether the six previous deaths in the past six years were the result of drones or roadside bombs, or both.
Torres said the gangs in the area around Buenavista, Michoacan, in the state’s southern hot areas – where Wednesday’s explosion took place – were known to use both landmines and small bombs dropped by drones. At least some civilians have also been killed by the devices.
Defense Minister Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said Tuesday that devices like the one that exploded Monday were “very rustic.” But his description of the scene where the two soldiers died on Monday suggested it may have been some kind of creepy booby trap.
Trevilla said the army had sent out a patrol to check reports of an encampment of armed men in a rural area. The forces discovered an area protected by palisades that appeared to be an encampment, but when soldiers in vehicles approached they found the path blocked by tree trunks, so they got out and had to approach on foot.
As they approached, they saw three dismembered bodies near the encampment, which appeared to be abandoned. But as they got closer, a buried device exploded and hit the soldiers.
In the only previous detailed report on cartel bombings in August 2023, Mexico’s Defense Ministry said at the time that a total of 42 soldiers, police and suspects were injured by IEDs in the first seven and a half months of 2023, compared to 16 in all of 2022.
