MEXICO CITY: A car bomb detonated on Thursday outside a police station in a Mexican state hit hard by drug cartel violence, wounding three officers, local officials said.
The bomb exploded in Acambaro in Guanajuato state and the injured included a woman officer who was hospitalised in serious condition, the public security department of the town said on social media.
The blast damaged the police station, four houses and several homes but the police officers were the only people hurt, the department said.
While car bombings are relatively rare in Mexico and firearms remain the cartels' weapon of choice, it is not the first such attack against security forces.
In June 2023, a similar device killed a National Guard member and wounded others in Guanajuato.
The central region is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also now considered Mexico's most violent state.
On Oct 4 the bodies of 12 slain police officers were found in different areas of Salamanca, a town in Guanajuato.
Officials say violence in the state stems from a conflict between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in all of Mexico.
"I want to be very emphatic: our priority is the pacification of Guanajuato, and we will achieve this complex task together," state governor Libia Garcia said on social media after Thursday's attack.
She said an air and ground operation had been launched involving state security forces to support the municipal police.
Mexico has suffered more than 450,000 drug-related killings since the government started using the military to fight the cartels in 2006.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on Oct 1, has pledged to continue her predecessor's "hugs not bullets" strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while also making better use of intelligence.
"The war on drugs will not return," she said, referring to the US-backed offensive launched in 2006.
The northwestern cartel stronghold of Sinaloa has also seen a spike in violence since the July arrest of drug lord Ismael Zambada in the United States.
On Monday, Mexican troops shot dead 19 suspected Sinaloa Cartel members after coming under attack.
Zambada's capture triggered infighting between his supporters and gunmen loyal to imprisoned cartel founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and his sons.
Zambada accused Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of El Chapo's sons, of kidnapping him and handing him over to US law enforcement. - AFP