Cartel Gunmen in Mexico Kill Farmer, Attack Cops with Landmines near Texas Border

Cartel gunmen resumed the use of landmines in the Mexican state just south of the border with Texas. In the most recent series of attacks, the gunmen used an explosive to kill an innocent farmer who was driving to a ranch. In a separate attack, they injured five police officers using another buried landmine.

The escalation in violence comes at a time when the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas (CDN) has been waging a fierce turf war with Gulf Cartel factions for control of northern Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Both criminal organizations have a history of using explosives, and both are currently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. Government.

The first incident occurred on Wednesday morning, shortly after 10:30, when police officers and investigators in Nuevo Leon responded to a rural area near the city of Doctor Coss regarding an explosion. When authorities arrived, they found pieces of a farm truck and various bone fragments. Officers requested an explosives team and a forensic team to process the scene. During the search, authorities found an ID believed to belong to a resident who was driving the truck and appeared to have driven over a makeshift landmine that cartel gunmen had left buried.

The second attack took place hours later, also in a rural area near Doctor Coss, when officers with the Fuerza Civil Police force were patrolling various dirt roads and drove over another landmine. The five officers who were riding in the vehicles sustained various injuries but were able to call for backup and emergency medical care. Investigators were trying to determine if the second vehicle exploded from a landmine or if they were attacked by cartel gunmen using drones to drop explosives on them.

Authorities rushed the injured officers to a hospital in Monterrey, where four of them are listed as stable and expected to recover. In contrast, a fifth officer is listed as being in serious condition.