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

At least three people were killed and six others wounded Saturday when an explosion rocked the area outside a police station in Mexico’s western Michoacan state, according to local and federal security officials.

The blast occurred in Coahuayana, a town near the Pacific coast close to the border with Colima state, a region known as a stronghold of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s office confirmed 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,” the statement said.

Hector Zepeda, commander of the Coahuayana community police, identified the two victims who died at the hospital as community police officers. He described a grisly scene, noting that remains of some victims were scattered across the blast area, 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 that Zepeda commands represent formalized remnants of civilian vigilante forces that emerged over a decade ago when local residents took up arms to defend their communities from cartel violence. These groups were later recognized and regulated by the state.

Images circulating on social media showed a completely burned-out vehicle at the explosion site. While the state government acknowledged in a statement that an “explosive device” was responsible, officials did not provide further details about the nature of the explosive or who might have been behind the attack.

The explosion comes amid escalating cartel violence in Michoacan, where the federal government recently strengthened its security presence following the assassinations of two prominent local figures – a representative of lime growers and a mayor known for standing against cartel influence.

The timing is particularly notable as Michoacan Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla was in Mexico City with President Claudia Sheinbaum at the time of the explosion, celebrating the seventh anniversary of their Morena party’s rise to power. Both leaders have faced mounting criticism over deteriorating security conditions in Michoacan.

The state has become a battleground for at least three major drug cartels that the Trump administration previously designated as terrorist organizations – Jalisco New Generation, United Cartels, and The New Michoacan Family. These groups, along with various splinter factions backed by the Sinaloa Cartel, are locked in a violent struggle for territorial control.

Criminal organizations operating in the region have increasingly turned to explosive devices as weapons of choice. According to state security agencies, authorities seized approximately 3,000 explosive devices in Michoacan last year, compared to just 160 in 2022. In the first nine months of 2024 alone, more than 2,000 explosive devices have been confiscated. Cartels have deployed explosives via drones, as roadside bombs, and as buried mines.

Last month, President Sheinbaum dispatched an additional 2,000 troops to Michoacan, reinforcing the 4,300 permanent troops already stationed there and 4,000 others in neighboring states. The deployment followed high-profile assassinations that highlighted the cartels’ growing boldness.

Michoacan’s strategic importance extends beyond criminal activity. The state serves as a key entry point for chemical precursors used in synthetic drug production, with Mexican authorities dismantling 17 drug laboratories there in just the past two months. The region is also economically significant as a major producer of avocados exported to the United States and as one of Mexico’s primary lime-growing areas – agricultural sectors that cartels have systematically extorted for years.

As federal forces continue their security operation in the area, local patrols by community police have been temporarily suspended, leaving residents concerned about further violence in the embattled state.