Car bomb blast kills Mexican policeman
January 23, 2011 (2 days ago)
Members of the Mexican Army guard the place where a car bomb exploded in Tula, Hidalgo state, Mexico on January 22, 2011. A policeman was killed and three others wounded Saturday when an abandoned car rigged with explosives detonated in the central state of Hidalgo, local police said. Police believe the bomb was set by the Zetas, one of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels. The officers were responding to information sent anonymously stating that there was a body inside a car parked outside the town of Tula, some 90 km north of Mexico City. – AFP Photo
PACHUCA: A policeman was killed and three others wounded Saturday when an abandoned car rigged with explosives detonated in the central state of Hidalgo, local police said.
Police believe the bomb was set by the Zetas, one of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels.
The officers were responding to information sent anonymously stating that there was a body inside a car parked outside the town of Tula, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Mexico City.
There was no body, Tula Mayor Rodolfo Paredes told AFP, and the bomb exploded when the officers opened the car trunk.
Police Commander Victor Pena died as he was being treated in a local clinic, Hidalgo Governor Miguel Osorio said in a Twitter message.
Of the wounded officers is seriously wounded and fighting for his life in a hospital in the state capital Pachuca, officials said.
The attack “is presumably attributed to the Zetas,” the state head of Public Security, Damian Canales, told reporters.
Near the charred vehicle agents found a message from the bombers with threats against police. Canales said it could be a revenge attack following a recent gun battle in Tula in which police shot two Zetas dead.
The Zetas are led by former elite soldiers who began working for the Gulf drug cartel in the 1990s, then split and formed their own group. It is now one of Mexico’s six main drug cartels.
The Zetas have also been implicated in migrant kidnappings, extortion, fuel robbery and violent battles with their former employers and other gangs across northeastern Mexico.
Some 34,600 people have been killed since 2006 when President Felipe Calderon launched a clampdown on the country’s powerful gangs, involving tens of thousands of troops, according to official figures.
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