Mexico: Drug Cartels Increasing Use of Roadside Bombs, Says Mexican Army

As the Mexican Drug War continues against the country's drug cartels, authorities in Mexico are saying that these criminal organizations are using more and more roadside bombs as of late.

These roadside bombs, or IEDs, were typically used in warzones by terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. However, Mexican drug cartels like the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, and others have been using them a lot lately, the Mexican Army revealed.

In 2023 alone, 42 people, including police officers, soldiers, and suspected rival cartel operatives, have been injured by these improvised explosive devices, commonly referred to as roadside bombs. This is up from 2022, which saw 16 people getting injured from these devices, per the Associated Press.

Mexico's Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval was the one who provided these numbers, with Mexican officials acknowledging that there have already been multiple deaths this year thanks to roadside bombs, including at least one National Guard officer and four state police officers. They were killed in two separate explosive attacks this year.

Much like warzones in the Middle East, car bombs are also being used in Mexico. So far, six of these car bombs have been found in the country in 2023. Car bombs do have a history of being used in Mexico, though, as these were used several years ago in northern Mexico.

Most of the bombs, roadside bombs, and car bombs, along with drone-carried bombs, were found in Michoacan state, which is currently where a turf war between various criminal organizations is taking place. Around 1,411 were found in the state, which is getting invaded by the CJNG.

A total of 556 improvised explosive devices of all types have been found so far in 2023, with the current administration under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seeing a total of 2,186 explosive devices since taking office in December 2018. While most of the bombs were found in Michoacan, the rest were found in Jalisco and Guanajuato states.

Many of Mexico's Roadside Bombs Are Homemade

During that same press conference, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval explained that many of the explosive devices they found are usually the ones that failed to explode. This reflects the homemade nature of these roadside bombs.

"All of these explosive devices are homemade, based on tutorials that can be found on the internet," said the secretary, who also confirmed that many of these IEDs were made with black powder "which is available in the marketplace."

According to Chron, some bombs use more advanced and powerful components, such as blasting compounds stolen from mines.

Mexican Drug Cartels Using Drones To Drop Bombs

It is not just roadside bombs that are terrorizing residents, but drones dropping bombs as well. However, these are not the highly-sophisticated drones that the US military is using, but just like the roadside bombs, they are also improvised in nature.

According to VOA News, these drones have been modified to drop bombs on targets, though some have proven to not be that accurate and instead hit completely unrelated things, like civilians. Mexican drug cartels, such as the CJNG, have developed these drones, with those operating them being called "droneros."

These drones have been described as "crude and dangerous to load and operate." They are also worrisomely indiscriminate. However, as technology improves, these bomb drones have also gotten a bit better, though they remain indiscriminate in the destruction it causes.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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