A group of cartel gunmen used land mines and weaponized drones in a series of ambush-style attacks where they killed at least four Mexican Army soldiers and injured several others. The gunmen managed to escape.
The attacks took place on Thursday afternoon in the rural areas of Michoacán near the town of Tepalcatepec, a region known for its heavy cartel presence by gunmen from both Cartel Jalisco New Generation and their rivals with Carteles Unidos, a group of smaller organizations including self-defense groups, Los Viagras, La Familia and others that banded together.
A convoy of Mexican soldiers was traveling along a dirt road when cartel gunmen set off a series of land mines. The cartels also began using drones to drop explosives on the soldiers. Gunmen hiding in the brush started firing at the soldiers.
The troops tried to fight off the attack and called for reinforcements. The gunmen managed to escape. Gunmen then used other land mines and drones to attack additional forces in subsequent attacks.
Mexican authorities are acknowledging that four soldiers died and nine others sustained serious injuries. Unofficial information points to several other fatalities.
The attack comes weeks after Breitbart Texas published a video of a similar attack where cartel gunmen used land mines to attack another convoy of soldiers in a nearby area in the neighboring state of Jalisco. In that attack, two soldiers died, and several others sustained severe injuries. At the same time, CJNG and Carteles Unidos have been at the forefront of the use of land mines and weaponized drones. Most recently, the Tamaulipas government confirmed a Breitbart Texas report revealing the Gulf Cartel using landmines in the northern parts of the state. However, public officials claimed that the land mines were due to cartel-on-cartel violence and did not pose a danger to the community.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and other areas to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Jose Luis Lara, a former leading member who helped start the Self-Defense Movement in Michoacán.