Suspected car bomb explodes in cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounds several National Guard officers
Mexico City (AP): An apparent booby trap or car bomb exploded in a cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounding several officers of Mexico's National Guard, who approached the vehicle to inspect it, authorities confirmed on Thursday.
The National Guard said the explosion occurred late Wednesday in the city of Celaya, in the north-central state of Guanajuato, where the Jalisco and Santa Rosa de Lima drug cartels have been fighting a bloody turf war for years.
The use of a car bomb to intentionally cause law enforcement casualties marks an escalation of the infighting between rival cartels and is reminiscent of a 2010 car bomb blast that killed three people in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez at the height of the 2006-2012 drug war.
The officers were reportedly responding to a report about a car parked with what appeared to be bodies inside. As they approached, the vehicle exploded, sending guard officers flying. There was no immediate information on the condition of the wounded, though at least three suffered considerable injuries that required hospitalisation.
Mexican drug cartels have used improvised explosive devices sporadically over the last two decades. But Guanajuato security analyst David Saucedo said Wednesday's car bomb appeared to constitute a progression into terrorist-style acts.
"These are high-impact actions that seek to create terror in the population and create massive coverage in the media and social media," Saucedo said. "Attacks with car bombs allow gangs to cause casualties among their rivals with no risk. Making such bombs is cheap and low risk."
Saucedo said the blast may also illustrate vulnerabilities in Mexico's quasi-military National Guard, which was created by President Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador to act as the country's main law-enforcement agency.
He said police in Celaya who have seen about a dozen of their colleagues murdered since the beginning of the year tend to approach abandoned cars with much more caution, but on Wednesday National Guard officers "fell into the trap."
Warring drug cartels in the neighbouring state of Michoacan have used bomb-dropping drones and improvised explosive devices on roads for at least two years, and there have been suspicious blasts in Guanajuato before.
In 2022, a forensic examiner and a detective were wounded when an explosive device went off while they were examining a crime scene in Guanajuato. The device appeared to have been a booby trap, though police never confirmed that.
Wednesday's blast came as a massive search continued for 16 state employees kidnapped at gunpoint by suspected drug gang members Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas.
Relatives of the abducted officers crowded onto highways and streets in Chiapas Thursday to block traffic, demanding they be found and freed.
The kidnapped officers were seen in a video posted on social media Wednesday, in which one of the victims read a statement. The statement said the abductors were demanding the resignation of at least three state police officials, including the second-in-command of the force. One of the cartels operating in Chiapas has accused the police officials of favouring a rival gang.
The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels have launched a turf battle in the state, which borders Guatemala, for control of its drug and immigrant trafficking.
L pez Obrador said Thursday at his morning press briefing that he was willing to investigate the state police officials whose resignation the gang had demanded but that the gang had to release the abducted officers first.
"The first thing is for them to free the victims without any conditions," L pez Obrador said. "We are going to investigate the conduct of these three officials ... but first they have to release them."
The president has steadily maintained that Mexico's drug cartel violence problem is under control and declining. He has taken a sort of paternalistic, non-confrontational attitude toward the cartels, and on Wednesday said "they had better release them (the abducted police employees). If not, I'm going to tell on them to their fathers and grandfathers."
On Thursday, L pez Obrador briefly spoke about the kidnapping and then launched into a detailed description of his breakfast menu and played a tape of his favourite new song to improve the musical tastes of young people.
The blast in Guanajuato came on the same day that authorities in the border state of Chihuahua reported that eight people had been killed and two burned-out vehicles were found following an apparent drug cartel clash in the town of Guachochi, in a mountainous region near the border with the neighbouring states of Sinaloa and Durango.
The area is known for drug cartel activity and drug production.
#BREAKING #Mexico Mexico: Five National Guard agents were injured by a car bomb in the city of Celaya, Guanajuato last night. This is the latest attack in a wave of violence against police in Guanajuato, the most deadly state for security forces in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/6UiiAxgRrx
— National Independent (@NationalIndNews) June 29, 2023
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BJP accuses CM Siddaramaiah of 'misleading' public on govt job figures
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accusing him of "misleading" the public on government recruitment figures and "failing" to address the concerns of unemployed youth in the state.
In a detailed post on his X handle, Vijayendra alleged that the Congress-led government was attempting to deflect accountability by blaming the previous BJP administration instead of initiating concrete steps to fill vacant posts.
“Chief Minister, please refrain from misleading the people. Do not attempt to shift the blame for all your shortcomings onto the BJP and evade responsibility. Your administration has earned a reputation for arrogance, corruption and mismanagement,” Vijayendra said, adding that students and youth were not naïve enough to be swayed by what he termed as "exaggerated claims".
Vijayendra's response came following Siddaramaiah's statement on Tuesday blaming BJP for the huge backlog of government job vacancies.
The CM had said that when Congress assumed office in 2023, over 2.64 lakh government posts were vacant.
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The backlog resulted from prolonged inaction under the previous BJP government, which failed to initiate timely recruitment or create a structured roadmap, he said.
As thousands of government job aspirants staged a massive protests in Dharwad on Tuesday demanding filling the vacant posts immediately, Siddaramaiah accused BJP leaders of "misleading students for political gains" and said recruitment irregularities and alleged corruption between 2019 and 2023 had eroded trust in the system, leading to the current crisis.
Questioning the government’s public statements on employment generation, Vijayendra referred to figures tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
“According to the official figures presented by your own government in the Legislative Assembly, only 8,157 government recruitments have been completed during your three years in office. Yet publicly claiming that 40,000 posts have been filled raises serious concerns. Does this not amount to misleading the unemployed youth of the state?” the Shikaripura MLA asked.
The BJP leader also raised the issue of large-scale vacancies in government departments, claiming that lakhs of posts remained unfilled even after the Congress came to power.
According to him, the state was struggling financially and questioned the delay in initiating fresh recruitment drives despite what he described as legal clarity on proceeding under the existing reservation framework.
Vijayendra further criticised the government for prioritising the accommodation of party workers and disgruntled MLAs in state-run corporations with ministerial rank and perks, while unemployed youth continued to wait for job opportunities.
“At the very least, please stop making claims that do not align with facts. Youth unrest in the state is mounting. Before matters escalate further, act with sincerity — or consider stepping down and seeking the people’s forgiveness,” the BJP state chief said.
Noting that frustration among students and job aspirants was intensifying, Vijayendra urged the CM to immediately expedite pending recruitment processes and ensure transparency in appointments.
He warned that the government would be held accountable for any fallout arising out of growing youth discontent.
