For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here.
By Chris Covert
A Mexican Army unit on patrol in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon came within minutes of being in the blast radius of a car bomb that was detonated early Thursday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
The unit was on patrol in the La Ladrilla sector of Monterrey, when the unit began pursuit of a Volkswagen Jetta sedan travelling south along Avenida Revolucion.
| Authorities think the explosion was meant for the army unit in pursuit. If so, Thursday morning's explosion represents a significant escalation of the armed conflict between gangs affiliated with Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican military. |
At some point when the sedan was pursued past the intersection of avenida Revolucion and Covarrubias, a Nissan Tsuru sedan exploded. The unit failed to advance following the explosion, so the sedan got away.
No one was hurt in the explosion, and damage was limited to the car and a nearby building.
Authorities think the explosion was meant for the army unit in pursuit. If so, Thursday morning's explosion represents a significant escalation of the armed conflict between gangs affiliated with Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican military.
The attack is also the first time a Mexican military was unit has been directly targeted using a car bomb.
And in related news, a Mexican Army patrol located an arsenal at an abandoned ranch at Las Aguilas in Vallecillo municipality.
Seized contraband included 13 rifles, 131 weapons magazines, 3,261 rounds of ammunition, and two vehicles
Mexican news reports have not disclosed the explosive used in the attack. In the several car bomb attacks which have taken place in northern Mexican since July 2010, only two types of explosives have been tied to the attacks: Tovex, which is a commercial dynamite and gunpowder compiled from fireworks.
The car bomb in Juarez, Chihuahua July 16th, 2010 used Tovex. That bomb was assembled under the orders of La Linea, the
armed/enforcement wing of the Juarez Cartel. The operational leader who planned that attack, Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez AKA El Diego, was captured last July. The Juarez car bomb killed three individuals including one Policia federal agent. That bomb was meant for a Policia Federal column on patrol at the time in downtown Juarez.
To read Rantburg reports on the arrest of Acosta Hernandez and links relating to the Juarez car bomb, click here
To read Rantburg reports on the six other car bombs in northern Mexico since July, 2010 click here here here here here and here.
The attack this morning follows a relatively successful counternarcotics operation recently concluded in Vallecillo municipality in far northern Nuevo Leon earlier in the week in which a Los Zetas training and supply camp was dismantled following several days of running firefights between presumed members of Los Zetas, and elements of the Mexican Army and the Mexican Policia Federal agents.
That operation began a week ago with the capture of an alleged leader of that local group Thursday night.
Those gun battles yielded at least 20 dead, possibly more since Los Zetas gangs often retrieve their killed and wounded following gun fights either with rival gangs or with Mexican security forces to prevent post battle intelligence from being gathered.
To read Rantburg reports on the Vallecillo counternarcotics operation, click here, here and here.