Car bomb at US-Mexico border kills 3

Press TV
July 16, 2010

The explosion of a car bomb ramming into two police vehicles in northern Mexico has killed three people, including two policemen.

Nine people were also wounded in the attack, including seven officers; AP quoted a state police officer as saying.

The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the car had apparently been carrying some kind of explosive or inflammable device when it rammed the police pickup trucks.

Mexican soldiers and law enforcement officers have been attacked with grenades and powerful rifles before but explosives have rarely been used.

Officials said the attack that took place on Thursday in Ciudad Juarez near the US border was in retaliation for the arrest of a top leader of the La Linea drug gang, Jesus Acosta Guerrero, earlier in the day.

It is said that Guerrero has been responsible for at least 25 executions and has ordered attacks on police, AP reported.

Drug killings have increased across Mexico since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and launched his military-backed drug war. Since January 2008, in Ciudad Juarez alone, almost 6,000 people have died in drug-related violence.

According to the Associated Press, throughout the country there have been more than 23,000 killings linked to drug violence since December 2006.