MEXICO CITY (AP) — An explosion outside a local police station in the western Mexican state of Michoacan on Saturday killed at least two people and wounded seven, local and federal security officials said.
The blast came as the federal government stepped up security activities in the state, deploying additional troops following two recent high-profile murders.
Hector Zepeda, police commander of the community of Coahuayana, said on Saturday that the explosion killed two of his police officers and that among the injured were civilians. He said that some of the victims were found far from the site of the explosion, which also damaged nearby buildings.
“With this operation (by the federal government) many marines came,” said Zepeda. “We stopped doing patrols because the operation is going on.”
The community police, who patrol several 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 were then formalized by the state.
Coahuayana is located 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 Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla was in Mexico City to celebrate with President Claudia Sheinbaum the anniversary of their Morena party coming to power seven years ago.
Ramírez Bedolla and Sheinbaum have been criticized for the worsening security situation in Michoacan where several drug cartels are fighting to control the territory, terrorizing the locals.
At least three of the six drug cartels the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations — Jalisco New Generation, United Cartels and The New Michoacan Family — operate here, along with a host of separate home-grown armed groups, some backed by the Sinaloa Cartel.
Explosives dropped by drones, buried as mines or planted along roads 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 major importer of chemical precursors for synthetic drugs. In the last two months, 17 drug laboratories have been dismantled by the Mexican authorities there. The state also produces avocados exported to the United States and is a major producer of limes, sectors extorted by cartels for years.
The state government said in a statement Saturday that an “explosive device” was responsible, but did not provide details. Images circulating online showed a completely burnt vehicle.
Last month, Sheinbaum sent 2,000 soldiers – in addition to the 4,300 permanent and 4,000 in neighboring states – to Michoacan after the assassination of an outspoken representative of lime producers and a popular mayor who stands up to the cartels.