Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #55: Car Bombing against the Comandancia (Police Headquarters) in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas
A car bomb (coche bomba, carro bomba) was detonated outside the Comandancia (municipal police headquarters) in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, MX on Sunday, 30 August 2026. Mexican security officials, including Zacatecas Governor David Monreal and Omar García Harfuch, head of the federal secretariat of security and citizen protection (Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana – SSPC), link the attack to retaliation for arrests of cartel members. The bombing represents an escalation in the violence related to territorial disputes between the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and the Cártel de Sinaloa (CdS). Eleven people were injured and over 60 structures and 13 vehicles were damaged.
Key Information: Ale Huitron, “CJNG incrementa violencia en Zacatecas: cártel estaría detrás del coche bomba en instalaciones de la Policía de Ojocaliente.” Infobae. 31 August 2025, https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2026/08/31/cjng-incrementa-violencia-en-zacatecas-cartel-estaria-detras-de-coche-bomba-en-instalaciones-de-la-policia-de-ojocaliente/:
El Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) habría ordenado el ataque con explosivos contra la Comandancia Municipal de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, como represalia directa por la detención de uno de sus presuntos miembros, registrada 48 horas antes de la agresión de este domingo.
Fue el fiscal general del estado, Cristian Paul Camacho Osnaya, quien detalló en entrevista con Azucena Uresti que durante la noche del domingo un vehículo con explosivos en su interior fue detonado frente a la comandancia en un ataque directo.
El fiscal dijo que la línea de investigación apunta a que la agresión se cometió en respuesta a la detención de un hombre que se identificó plenamente como miembro del CJNG tras un ataque armado y en el que una motocicleta con explosivos detonó en contra de elementos de la Policía Municipal de Villa García.
La agresión ocurrió durante un operativo conjunto entre Zacatecas y Aguascalientes en el municipio de Asientos. Tras los hechos fue detenido William “N”, un joven de 18 años originario de Aguascalientes al ser señalado como el responsable de agredir al personal.
El vehículo bomba y la huella del cártel: es una zona con presencia del CJNG y Cártel de Sinaloa.[1]
Key Information: Karla Alvia and Luis Ramos Chavero, “Ataque del CJNG en Ojocaliente, Zacatecas fue con “Coche bomba”; van 11 heridos.” La Silla Rota. 31 August 2026,https://lasillarota.com/estados/2026/8/31/fiscal-de-zacatecas-liga-ataque-en-ojocaliente-con-el-cjng-526608.html:
El gobierno de Zacatecas confirmó que el ataque perpetrado la noche del domingo contra la comandancia municipal de Ojocaliente se trató de la explosión de un “coche bomba”, cuya onda expansiva dejó un saldo actualizado de 11 lesionados y aproximadamente 30 viviendas afectadas.
El ataque con explosivos contra la comandancia de la Policía Municipal de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, dejó un saldo actualizado de 10 personas lesionadas, dos de ellas en estado grave, informó el fiscal estatal. Posteriormente se elevó a 11 el número de lesionados de manera oficial.
El vehículo [usado en ataque] tenía reporte de robo con violencia desde abril de 2026 en Jalisco.[2]
Key Information: Paulina Flores Ramírez, “El Gobierno de Zacatecas apunta al Cartel Jalisco por el ataque con coche bomba.” El País. 31 August 2026, https://elpais.com/mexico/2026-08-31/el-gobierno-de-zacatecas-apunta-al-cartel-jalisco-por-el-ataque-con-coche-bomba.html:
La violencia vuelve a Zacatecas. Una comandancia de policía del municipio de Ojocaliente ha sido atacada con un coche bomba la tarde de este domingo. El incidente ha dejado 10 personas heridas (dos de ellas policías municipales), 17 viviendas destruidas y varios vehículos dañados. Un portavoz del Gobierno estatal ha afirmado que la situación ya está bajo control y los heridos han recibido atención médica. Uno de los heridos se encuentra en “situación delicada”. Las autoridades han confirmado que la agresión fue realizada por el Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) y que está vinculada con una detención, en los límites entre Aguascalientes y Zacatecas, el sábado pasado. Este ataque se suma al verano violento que ha registrado la entidad este 2026.[3]
Key Information: “Explosión de coche bomba frente a Comandancia de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, deja siete heridos.” Artstegui Noticias. 31 August 2026, https://aristeguinoticias.com/3108/mexico/explosion-de-coche-bomba-frente-a-comandancia-de-ojocaliente-zacatecas-deja-siete-heridos/:
Una elemento de la Policía Municipal y seis civiles resultaron lesionados la noche del domingo tras la explosión de un artefacto colocado en un automóvil particular en las inmediaciones de la Comandancia de Policía de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, informó el secretario general de Gobierno estatal, Rodrigo Reyes Mugüerza.
El funcionario señaló que, de acuerdo con los primeros reportes de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, además de las siete personas lesionadas,11 vehículos particulares y dos patrullas resultaron afectados por la explosión.
Reyes Mugüerza indicó que, según las primeras indagatorias, “el explosivo fue colocado en un automóvil particular y generó daños físicos en la comandancia e inmuebles que se encuentran en las inmediaciones”. En un primer reporte señaló que el artefacto había sido arrojado desde un vehículo en movimiento.[4]
Car bomb explosion in front of the Ojocaliente Police Command, Zacatecas. Source: Aristegui Noticias, “Explosión de coche bomba frente a Comandancia de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas.” X. 31 August 2026, https://x.com/AristeguiOnline/status/2094395115963912485?s=20.
Key Information: Emir Olivares Alonso, “Ataque con explosivos en Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, apunta a disputa entre cártel de Sinaloa y ‘CJNG’: Harfuch.” La Jornada. 4 September 2026, https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026/09/04/politica/ataque-con-explosivos-en-ojocaliente-zacatecas-apunta-a-disputa-entre-cartel-de-sinaloa-y-cjng-harfuch:
Guadalupe, Zacatecas.- El titular de la Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana (SSPC ), Omar García Harfuch, afirmó que las primeras investigaciones arrojan que el “cobarde ataque” con un coche bomba contra la comandancia de policía del municipio de Ojocaliente está relacionado con la confrontación entre los cárteles del Pacífico y Jalisco Nueva Generación por el control del territorio en esta entidad.
En el marco de la mañanera de la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo que se realiza en este municipio, el funcionario federal detalló que hasta ahora han sido detenidos tres presuntos implicados en estos hechos, que se dieron la tarde-noche del domingo 30 de agosto y dejaron once personas lesionadas.
“En distintas regiones del estado persiste una confrontación de células delictivas, esa disputa sigue generando estos episodios de violencia y agresiones contra autoridades. Una línea de investigación (sobre este ataque) es esta disputa entre CJNG y el del Pacífico”, señaló.
Informó que, de acuerdo a las investigaciones que realiza la Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado, se utilizaron alrededor de 200 kilogramos de material explosivo para este ataque.[5]
Key Information: “Detienen a presunto integrante de grupo delictivo relacionado con explosivo colocado en Dirección de Seguridad de Ojocaliente.” Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, Gobierno del Estado de Zacatecas. 1 September 2026, https://ssp.zacatecas.gob.mx/detienen-a-presunto-integrante-de-grupo-delictivo-relacionado-con-explosivo-colocado-en-direccion-de-seguridad-de-ojocaliente/:
Cuauhtémoc, Zac., 1 de septiembre de 2026.- Como resultado de trabajos de inteligencia y coordinación entre el Ejército Mexicano, Guardia Nacional, Fuerza de Reacción Inmediata Zacatecas (FRIZ), División de Inteligencia de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública y Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de Zacatecas (FGJEZ), fue detenido Juan Pedro N., de 29 años de edad, originario de Aguascalientes, quien estaría relacionado con el vehículo con explosivos que fue colocado en las inmediaciones de la Dirección de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Ojocaliente.
Durante el despliegue operativo de las Fuerzas de Seguridad, las corporaciones detectaron al conductor de un vehículo Nissan que, al advertir la presencia policial, intentó huir y arrojó artefactos ponchallantas. El conductor descendió de la unidad para escapar hacia una zona de cultivos, donde fue alcanzado y detenido.
De acuerdo con los datos de inteligencia obtenidos durante las investigaciones, existen indicios que permiten establecer su posible participación en los hechos y avanzar en la identificación, ubicación y localización de otras personas que pudieran haber intervenido, por lo que continúan las labores de investigación y seguimiento para determinar las responsabilidades correspondientes.
Durante la intervención fueron asegurados un explosivo artesanal tipo niple, una granada de fragmentación, 22 ponchallantas, cinco cargadores abastecidos y diversas dosis de sustancias con características de marihuana, metanfetamina y cocaína, además de un vehículo.[6]
Incident Summary
Who: The Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is suspected to have carried out the attack. This cartel is an innovator in IED and car bomb deployment and has extensively used explosive devices both offensively and defensively, primarily for instrumental terrorism and anti-personnel purposes.
What: Car bomb, approximately 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of mining (industrial) explosives utilized.[7] The explosive device yield is an anomaly, typically far smaller car bombs are deployed.
Where: Comandancia (police headquarters), Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, Mexico. The facility is located in the middle of the block on a narrow street, where blast reflection and pressure amplification is heightened.
When: Sunday, 30 August 2026, approximately 2000 hours (8:00 p.m.). The detonation timing is of interest due to its correlation with a large local street festival taking place with large crowds gathering nearby.[8]
Why: Suspected retaliation for arrest of cartel members and on-going territorial disputes. The lack of proportionality of the cartel response is an outlier and does not fit with past retaliatory patterns.
Analysis
As discussed in the media reports above, the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) is believed to be behind a car bombing targeting the Comandancia de Policía Municipal (municipal police headquarters) in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas on Sunday, 30 August 2026. While no fatalities were reported, 11 people were injured. Structural and vehicle damage was sustained in the immediate area, with 10 homes suffering severe damage and 53 residences incurring minor damage (such as having their windows blown out).[9]
The device is believed to be around 200 kilograms (or 441 pounds). While not on the scale of a large vehicle bomb (LVB) or what is often called a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), the explosion is potentially an early indicator of future LVB deployment. A CJNG tactical team was utilized to plan and execute the bombing with initial police facility surveillance conducted, a vehicle stolen to carry the explosive device, the device purposefully built utilizing mining (industrial) explosives, and then the car bomb left in front of the facility prior to its command detonation. Post-incident, some of this team have been arrested by Mexican authorities.
The infrastructure damage was heightened due to the explosive device yield, the narrowness of the street where the car bomb was detonated, the ‘urban canyon effect’ (blast wave amplification), and the unreinforced nature of the buildings in the vicinity of the explosion. This is readily evident when news and social media imagery related to the incident is viewed.
While certainly not the first car bombing in Mexico’s drug wars—or criminal insurgency—this is potentially a sign of escalating cartel conflict. Consider, “Zacatecas has recorded 23 attacks involving explosives this year, including six involving cars or motorcycles.”[10] Car bombings are sporadic or intermittent TTPs in Mexican criminal conflict. The first of these car bombings in the current drug war occurred in Ciudad Juárez in July 2010 and was documented here at Small Wars Journal.[11] A table of these initial car bombings can be viewed in a 2013 US Army War College report on this subject matter.[12] During this era, Los Zetas—the tactical and operational innovators of their day—were one of the primary cartels utilizing these devices along with La Línea, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel.
Car bombings in Mexico have since gone through phases of use determined by geography and time, with one cartel or another utilizing them more frequently. IEDs placed in vehicles—typically viewed as bombs placed in cars (rather than full-fledged car bombs)—exist within the broader context of cartel explosive device employment. These cartel devices come in many variants such as basic IEDs, military fragmentation grenades, mortar rounds, claymore mines, artisanal anti-vehicular mines, and increasingly drone bomblets (often nothing more than a pipe bomb outfitted with fins and an impact detonator). They have been rapidly proliferating, with the Mexican Guardia Nacional (National Guard) seizing 9,802 explosive devices across the country in 2025 alone.[13]
Of these numerous devices deployed and interdicted, numbering approximately in the low tens-of-thousands of artifacts over the last ten years or so, car bombs composed of low explosive yield IEDs have represented only a small minority of them.[14] Concern exists, however, that CJNG—as the present innovator in IED design and employment in both traditional IEDs and drone bomblets—may potentially break from its past patterns of car bomb employment with the recent Ojocaliente, Zacatecas incident. This is of great significance because it would fundamentally change the nature of cartel car bomb employment in Mexico with higher explosive yield infrastructure targeting utilizing LVBs (or VBIEDs) representing a more dangerous type of narco-terrorism threat. To date, this type of threat has never transpired within the criminal insurgencies taking place in Mexico. However, the specter of employment of such devices still haunts us based on the Colombian experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the full scale narco-terror campaign waged by the Medellín cartel against the Colombian state and its citizenry.
While such perspectives may seem sensationalist, only two days before the Zacatecas incident, on 28 August 2026, an extremely large and anomalous volume of explosive materials—over 2 tons—was seized by Mexican federal authorities in Maguarichi, Chihuahua, MX.[15] This large IED precursors cache was being transported in three stolen vehicles from the US, including one from Texas and one from Arizona. They were carrying 6,324 mining sleeve explosives (5,926 pieces of 1×8 inches and 398 pieces of 1×39 inches), 1,100 kilograms of Mexamón explosives (Austin Powder) bulk bags, 1,100 meters of detonation cord (Austin Powder), 510 meters of igniter cord (divided into 17 rolls of 30 meters), another 100 meters of fusing, and 5,234 electric detonators and initiation cables (Austin Powder).[16]
Three cartel vehicles transporting extremely large quantities of mining explosives and IED precursor materials were interdicted by the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública del Estado [de Chihuahua] (SSPE), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), the Guardia Nacional (National Guard), and the Ejército Mexicano (Mexican Army) in Maguarichi, Chihuahua, MX. Source: Secretaría de Seguridad Pública del Estado de Chihuahua. 28 August 2026, https://www.facebook.com/secretariadeseguridadpublicachihuahua/posts/en-un-operativo-coordinado-entre-sspe-aei-guardia-nacional-y-ejército-mexicano-f/1370836395228182/.
While Maguarichi, Chihuahua is not within the traditional CJNG operational sphere of influence, it falls with the Juárez Cartel area of operations. CJNG and the Juárez Cartel are allied together in their war against the Gente Nueva del Tigre, an armed wing of the Sinaloa cartel Los Mayos faction. This is the same Sinaloa faction that CJNG is fighting with in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas. One anomalous incident related to either car bomb explosive yield size or the interdiction of a large quantity of explosives (and IED precursor materials) can be excused, but two taking place within two days of each other suggests previously unrecognized patterns of narco-battlefield activity may be now developing. If this is the case, expect an uptick in cartel conflict in the region and a potential rise in cartel car bombings.
Sources
Karla Alvia and Luis Ramos Chavero, “Ataque del CJNG en Ojocaliente, Zacatecas fue con “Coche bomba”; van 11 heridos.” La Silla Rota. 31 August 2026, https://lasillarota.com/estados/2026/8/31/fiscal-de-zacatecas-liga-ataque-en-ojocaliente-con-el-cjng-526608.html.
“Detienen a presunto integrante de grupo delictivo relacionado con explosivo colocado en Dirección de Seguridad de Ojocaliente.” Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, Gobierno del Estado de Zacatecas. 1 September, 2026, https://ssp.zacatecas.gob.mx/detienen-a-presunto-integrante-de-grupo-delictivo-relacionado-con-explosivo-colocado-en-direccion-de-seguridad-de-ojocaliente/.
“Explosión de coche bomba frente a Comandancia de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, deja siete heridos.” Artstegui Noticias. 31 August 2026, https://aristeguinoticias.com/3108/mexico/explosion-de-coche-bomba-frente-a-comandancia-de-ojocaliente-zacatecas-deja-siete-heridos/.
Paulina Flores Ramírez, “El Gobierno de Zacatecas apunta al Cartel Jalisco por el ataque con coche bomba.” El País. 31 August 2026, https://elpais.com/mexico/2026-08-31/el-gobierno-de-zacatecas-apunta-al-cartel-jalisco-por-el-ataque-con-coche-bomba.html.
Ale Huitron, “CJNG incrementa violencia en Zacatecas: cártel estaría detrás del coche bomba en instalaciones de la Policía de Ojocaliente.” Infobae. 31 August 2025, https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2026/08/31/cjng-incrementa-violencia-en-zacatecas-cartel-estaria-detras-de-coche-bomba-en-instalaciones-de-la-policia-de-ojocaliente/.
Emir Olivares Alonso, “Ataque con explosivos en Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, apunta a disputa entre cártel de Sinaloa y ‘CJNG’: Harfuch.” La Jornada. 4 September 2026, https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026/09/04/politica/ataque-con-explosivos-en-ojocaliente-zacatecas-apunta-a-disputa-entre-cartel-de-sinaloa-y-cjng-harfuch.
Maria Verza, “Why Mexican cartels increasingly are using car bombs and other explosives.” Los Angeles Times. 4 September 2026, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-09-04/why-mexican-cartels-increasingly-use-car-bombs-other-explosives.
Significance: Car Bombs, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Carros bomba, Coches bomba, Crime Wars, Criminal Armed Groups (CAGs), Criminal Insurgency, TTPs, Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED), Zacatecas
Endnotes
[1] In English, the title reads: “CJNG Escalates Violence in Zacatecas: Cartel Reportedly Behind Car Bomb at Ojocaliente Police Station.” In English, the text reads: “The Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is believed to have ordered the bomb attack on the Ojocaliente Municipal Police Headquarters in Zacatecas as direct retaliation for the arrest of one of its alleged members, which took place 48 hours before Sunday’s attack. […] The state attorney general, Cristian Paul Camacho Osnaya, explained in an interview with Azucena Uresti that on Sunday night a vehicle containing explosives was detonated outside the police headquarters in a direct attack. […] The prosecutor said that the line of inquiry suggests the attack was carried out in response to the arrest of a man who fully identified himself as a member of the CJNG following an armed attack in which a motorbike laden with explosives was detonated against officers of the Villa García Municipal Police. […] The attack took place during a joint operation between Zacatecas and Aguascalientes in the municipality of Asientos. Following the incident, William ‘N’, an 18-year-old man from Aguascalientes, was arrested after being identified as the person responsible for attacking the officers. […] The car bomb and the cartel’s footprint: this is an area where the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel are active.”
[2] In English, the title reads: “CJNG Attack in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas Involved a ‘Car Bomb;’ 11 Injured.” In English, the text reads: “The Zacatecas state government confirmed that the attack carried out Sunday night against the municipal police headquarters in Ojocaliente involved the explosion of a ‘car bomb,’ whose shock wave left an updated toll of 11 injured and approximately 30 homes damaged. […] The explosive attack on the Ojocaliente Municipal Police headquarters in Zacatecas left 10 people injured, two of them in serious condition, according to the state attorney general. The official number of injured was later raised to 11. […] The vehicle [used in the attack] had been reported stolen in a violent robbery in Jalisco in April 2026.”
[3] In English, the title reads: “The Zacatecas government is pointing the finger at the Jalisco Cartel for the car bomb attack.” In English, the text reads: “Violence returns to Zacatecas. A police station in the municipality of Ojocaliente was attacked by a car bomb on Sunday afternoon. The incident left 10 people injured (two of them municipal police officers), 17 homes destroyed, and several vehicles damaged. A state government spokesperson stated that the situation is now under control and that the injured have received medical attention. One of the injured is in ‘critical condition.’ Authorities have confirmed that the attack was carried out by the Càrtel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and is linked to an arrest that took place on the border between Aguascalientes and Zacatecas last Saturday. This attack adds to the violent summer the state has experienced so far in 2026.”
[4] In English, the title reads: “Car Bomb Explosion Outside Ojocaliente Police Headquarters in Zacatecas Leaves Seven Injured.” In English, the text reads: “One member of the Municipal Police and six civilians were injured on Sunday night following the explosion of a device placed in a private car near the Ojocaliente Police Headquarters in Zacatecas, according to the state government’s secretary general, Rodrigo Reyes Mugüerza. […] The official noted that, according to initial reports from the Department of Public Safety, in addition to the seven people injured,11 private vehicles and two police patrol cars were damaged by the explosion. […] Reyes Mugüerza stated that, according to initial investigations, ‘the explosive device was placed in a private car and caused physical damage to the police headquarters and nearby buildings.’ In an initial report, he noted that the device had been thrown from a moving vehicle.”
[5] In English, the title reads: “Explosive attack in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, points to a dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and the ‘CJNG’: Harfuch.” In English, the text reads: “Guadalupe, Zacatecas. — The head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Omar García Harfuch, stated that initial investigations indicate that the “cowardly attack” involving a car bomb against the police headquarters in the municipality of Ojocaliente is linked to the conflict between the Pacific Cartel and the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación [CJNG] over control of the territory in this state. […] During Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo’s morning press conference held in this municipality, the federal official explained that three individuals suspected of involvement in the incident—which occurred on the afternoon and evening of Sunday, 30 August [2026], and left eleven people injured—have been arrested so far. […] ‘In various regions of the state, a conflict between criminal cells persists; this dispute continues to generate these episodes of violence and attacks against authorities. One line of investigation (into this attack) is this dispute between the CJNG and the Pacific Cartel,’ [aka the Sinaloa cartel] he noted. He reported that, according to investigations conducted by the State Attorney General’s Office, approximately 200 kilograms of explosives were used in this attack.”
[6] In English, the title reads: “Alleged Member of Criminal Group Linked to Explosive Placed at the Ojocaliente Security Directorate Arrested.” In English, the text reads: “Cuauhtémoc, Zacatecas, 1 September 2026. — As a result of intelligence operations and coordination between the Mexican Army [Ejército Mexicano], the National Guard [Guardia Naciona], the Zacatecas Immediate Response Force [Fuerza de Reacción Inmediata Zacatecas] (FRIZ), the Intelligence Division of the Secretariat of Public Security [División de Inteligencia de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública], and the Zacatecas State Attorney General’s Office [Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de Zacatecas] (FGJEZ), Juan Pedro N., a 29-year-old native of Aguascalientes, was arrested. He is believed to be connected to the vehicle containing explosives that was parked near the Ojocaliente Municipal Public Safety Department [la Dirección de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Ojocaliente]. During the security forces’ operation, officers spotted the driver of a Nissan vehicle who, upon noticing the police presence, attempted to flee and threw tire-puncturing devices. The driver exited the vehicle to escape into a field, where he was caught and arrested. […] According to intelligence gathered during the investigation, there is evidence suggesting his possible involvement in the incident and enabling authorities to proceed with the identification, tracking, and location of other individuals who may have been involved; therefore, investigative and follow-up efforts continue to determine the respective responsibilities. […] During the operation, authorities seized a homemade “nipple-type” explosive, a fragmentation grenade, 22 tire-puncturing devices, five loaded magazines, and various doses of substances resembling marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine, in addition to a vehicle.”
[7] “Usaron 200 kilos de explosivos de minas en ataque.” Pulso Diario de San Luis. 5 September 2026, https://pulsoslp.com.mx/nacional/usaron-200-kilos-de-explosivos-de-minas-en-ataque/2082871.
[8] “Car bomb in Zacatecas: how the attack happened.” YouTube. 31 August 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GqX-dcf86w.
[9] Gaspar Vela, “‘Usaron 200 kilos de explosivos’: Harfuch revela detalles del ataque a comandancia de Ojocaliente, Zacatecas.” Milenio. 4 September 2026, https://www.milenio.com/politica/ataque-comandancia-ojocaliente-zacatecas-vehiculo-explosivos-harfuch.
[10] Maria Verza, “Why Mexican cartels increasingly are using car bombs and other explosives.” Los Angeles Times. 4 September 2026, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-09-04/why-mexican-cartels-increasingly-use-car-bombs-other-explosives.
[11] John P. Sullivan, “Explosive Escalation: Reflections on the Car Bombing in Ciudad Juarez.” Small Wars Journal. 21 July 2010, https://smallwarsjournal.com/2010/07/21/explosive-escalation/.
[12] Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico.” Letort Paper. Carlisle Barracks. US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, August 2013: pp. 18–19.
[13] “Navy seizes over 300 IEDs and 300 kg of explosives in Sinaloa.” Mexico News Daily. 18 August 2026, https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/navy-ieds-explosives-bust-sinaloa/.
[14] Estimated cartel IED numbers deployed and also interdicted (seized) by Mexican authorities quickly add up. The 2,800 IEDs seized between 2019 and 2023 nationally, 2,300 IEDs deactivated in Michoacan alone in 2025, 9,800 IEDs seized by the Guardia Nacional (National Guard) in 2025, and aggregate imagery with over 10,000 IED drone bomblets and components seized and/or appearing on cartel social media since 2021 provide but a few datapoints in this regard. For some of these statistics, see Op. cit., María Verza, “Why Mexican cartels are increasingly using car bombs and other explosives” at Note 10. Estimates of cartel car bomb incidents and interdictions are unknown as no official sources exist and datasets are fragmentary. The authors estimate dozens of incidents (and interdictions) have taken place, with the possibility of over a hundred events having transpired over the last 16 years within the Mexican criminal insurgencies.
[15] Gustavo Castillo García, “Incautan en Chihuahua arsenal con más de seis mil explosivos.” La Jornada. 30 August 2026, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2026/08/30/politica/003n2pol.
[16] A large quantity of marijuana seeds were also recovered. See Cuauhtémoc Noticias, “Cuauhtémoc Noticias’s Post.” Facebook. 28 August 2026, https://www.facebook.com/CuauhtemocNoticias1/posts/operaciones-especiales-interinstitucionales-logran-dar-gran-golpe-al-grupo-de-lo/1070935922501557/.
Additional Readings
John P. Sullivan and Robert Bunker, “Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #54: Initial Reports on the Vehicle Explosion in Coahuayana, Michoacán: Car Bomb or Premature Detonation?” Small Wars Journal. 16 December 2025.
Robert J. Bunker, John P. Sullivan, David A. Kuhn, and Alma Keshavarz, “Use of IEDs and VBIEDs in Mexican Crime Wars.” Counter IED-Report. Spring-Summer 2021: pp. 63–73.
Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico.” Letort Paper. Carlisle Barracks. US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, August 2013.
