Car Bomb In Juarez: No Worries, Our Southern Border Is Secure

News of a car bomb set off on a major thoroughfare in Juarez, courtesy of the BBC.

This was not a home-made 'drive the car through the barricade/pull the lanyard/blow yourself up' affair. It was triggered by a cell phone, indicating some, shall we say, sophistication in approach.


16 July 2010 Last updated at 16:28 ET

Investigators in Mexico say a deadly attack by suspected drug cartel members in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez was a car bomb set off by mobile phone.

It is believed to be the first attack of its kind since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, promising to curb powerful drugs gangs.

Two police officers and two medics answering an emergency were killed.
Police said the attack was retaliation for the arrest of a leader of the La Linea drug gang, Jesus Acosta Guerrero. La Linea is part of the Juarez drug cartel.

"There were 10kg (22lb) of explosives, activated from a distance by a cellphone," Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the army in Ciudad Juarez, said. At least 16 other people were injured in Thursday's attack, police said.

Ciudad Juarez is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. It has long been the battleground for cartels fighting for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes into the US.

More than 7,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico so far this year. Almost 25,000 have died in the past three and a half years, according to figures released by the office of Attorney General Arturo Chavez on Friday.

El Diario de Chihuaha also covered the event, and in typical Mexican fashion, led the story by blaming the US for its lax laws on possession of C-4 explosive, never contemplating that the explosive could have arrived from any number of locations in the world. It is a long-established practice in the un-free Mexican press: If things go well, credit El Presidente; if things go badly, blame the Americans.


Then they got around to describing the bombing:

El auto explotó anoche sobre la avenida 16 de septiembre y Bolivia, en la zona centro, dejando un saldo de cuatro muertos y 11 heridos, así como el cierre de las calles aledañas al lugar del ataque.

El comandante expuso que de acuerdo con el peritaje, se encontraron residuos de 10 kilos de explosivo, al parecer del conocido como C4, así como restos de un aparato celular.

Indicó que aunque hasta este momento no se ha determinado exactamente cómo detonó el vehículo y si estaba armado como un coche-bomba, lo que si se puede determinar es que el artefacto se activó mediante una llamada a algún teléfono celular.

Indicó que el peritaje continúa a fin de determinar cómo fue que el vehículo se impactó contra el convoy de policías federales, si estaba estacionado o alguien lo iba conduciendo.

Confirmó que un agente de la Policía Federal y uno de la Municipal murieron, así como un médico y un rescatista de la Cruz Roja, en tanto que siete elementos federales, tres paramédicos de la Cruz Roja y un camarógrafo del canal 5, resultaron heridos.

Precisó que la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) investiga el asunto, y son apoyados por efectivos de la Sedena y especialistas en explosivos.


Old South repeats his question: Does this have to occur on the streets of Dallas or Kansas City before the United States develops the will to address the problem?