Six dead in explosives attack on Mexican police

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — An explosives attack on police investigating a report of clandestine graves in a violence-wracked region of Mexico left six people dead and 12 wounded, authorities said on Wednesday.

“It’s an act of brutal terror,” said Enrique Alfaro, governor of the western state of Jalisco.

The “cowardly attack” targeted municipal police and staff from the state prosecutor’s office using seven improvised explosive devices, he said.

The region is home to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent drug trafficking groups.

“This is an unprecedented event that shows what these organised crime groups are capable of,” Alfaro said.

“This attack also represents a challenge against the Mexican state as a whole,” he added.

The patrol was responding to a report from a member of a group searching for missing relatives who said she had received an anonymous tipoff about clandestine graves, the governor said.

More than 100,000 people are listed as having disappeared in Mexico and even looking for them can carry significant risks.

Alfaro said Jalisco’s security cabinet was “in permanent session” to investigate the attack, which has not been attributed to a specific criminal organisation.

Authorities learned of the incident shortly after 8:00pm Tuesday (02:00 GMT Wednesday), with reports indicating a burnt-out vehicle with five people inside in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, a suburb of the city of Guadalajara, police sources said.

Forensic investigators were sent to the scene, as well as several ambulances to transport the injured to hospital.

According to reports by local network Televisa, the explosion occurred near a vehicle in which the security officials were travelling.

While rare in Mexico, a car bomb killed a national guard member and wounded others in June in Guanajuato, another state hit hard by cartel-linked violence.

Authorities also reported a drone attack on a house in the Michoacan town of Apatzingan this month that wounded one person.

Also on Tuesday, 13 security personnel who had been taken captive the day before by protesters in the southern state of Guerrero were released after negotiations with authorities.

Officials said the protesters were infiltrated by a criminal group in Guerrero, which has endured years of violence linked to turf wars between drug cartels.

Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and some 100,000 disappearances since the launch of a controversial military anti-drug offensive in 2006, most attributed to criminal organisations.