Cartel gunmen killed six police officers and injured a dozen others in what is being described as a terrorist attack in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The cartel ambushed police officers who responded to a call about human remains in a location.
“It is a brutal terrorist act,” said Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro during a streamed message where he confirmed the attacks calling them the first of its kind ever seen in his state.
Este es un mensaje importante para el pueblo de Jalisco. pic.twitter.com/hx9aXInrd2
— Enrique Alfaro (@EnriqueAlfaroR) July 12, 2023
According to Alfaro, the attack began on Tuesday when a citizen who is part of a human rights group that searches for missing victims received an anonymous tip regarding a location in the municipality of Tlajomulco, Jalisco, where there were human remains.
The woman reported the tip to authorities. Alfaro explained the group has reported incidents like this in the past. Authorities responded to this new call and dispatched investigators to the scene. Instead of finding a body, they were met with a series of explosive devices. Gunmen set up at least eight devices but only seven exploded.
“It was a trap for our elements,” the governor said. “What happened was that through that call they sought the presence of our police forces in order to attack them with these explosive devices.”
Esta noche, personal de la @FiscaliaJal y Policía de Tlajomulco sufrió un cobarde ataque con artefactos explosivos, que preliminarmente causaron la muerte de tres compañeros de la policía municipal y de la Fiscalía, así como 10 personas lesionadas.
Se trata de un hecho sin…
— Enrique Alfaro (@EnriqueAlfaroR) July 12, 2023
Unlike other politicians who have tried to avoid using the label terrorism, Alfaro called the explosions a terrorist attack and said they would work to hunt down the cartel gunmen responsible.
“We cannot allow these terrorist acts in Jalisco … this is something else,” Alfaro said claiming that in recent weeks they had made strides in fighting against organized crime. “These organized crime groups want to generate fear, want to generate panic within the public.”
The terrorist attack in Tlajomulco comes just one week after gunmen from Cartel Jalisco New Generation left a car bomb in the city of Teocaltiche. The device did not explode and Mexican military forces were able to deactivate it.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.