In the town of Zicuirán, municipality of La Huacana, a property was seized in which more than 117 explosive devices in the manufacturing process were found.
117 devices, explosive charges, shrapnel, bottles for making Molotov cocktails, more than 100 kilos of explosives and 1,680 homemade percussion caps were located, Various materials for making mortar grenades and propellant charges were also found, as well as 11 liters of muriatic acid and aluminum foil for making devices, among other objects.
The imagery originated in an official SSP Michoacán tweet related to a seized truck containing 4 assault rifles (AK, other series), 38 magazines, numerous small arms rounds, and the 7 IED bomblets (simply designated as generic explosive devices).
A limited firefight had taken place in the vicinity of Peribán between the occupants of the truck and Mexican National Guard and Army personnel. The cartel gunmen (presumably CJNG) fled the scene and left behind the abandoned truck which was secured by Mexican authorities.
The seven bomblets that are shown in Image 1 represent the most sophisticated improvised drone release munitions that have been encountered during any seizure to date. The main bodies appear to be constructed using a cast iron alloy, the fragmentation section lines of which were cast into the sleeves during production. The irregularities and offsets in the fragmentation patterns of these bomblets do not indicate that any machining process was used other than general finishing.
The imagery was released on Ejército Mexicano (SEDENA; Mexican Army) and Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) social media. An incident took place in the 15th Military Zone between Mexican army (SEDENA) and National Guard (Guardia Nacional) personnel and Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación forces near Mazamitla. As an outcome of the engagement, 6 vehicles, 4 improvised mortars, 37 IEDs, 3 helmets, 2-3 tactical vests, a possible base plate and a machine gun mount, and a number of small arms rounds were seized.
The six bomblets in the front row appear to be fully assembled. The reader will note that the majority of fin assemblies on both rows of bomblets appear to have significant damage. It is very possible that all of the bomblets in the front and rear rows are being used in repetitive tests; and that the fin assemblies have been salvaged several times for reuse. This would also indicate that the type of testing most likely involves payload/detonator performance, as any accuracy testing would require the fins to be free of aerodynamic flaws.
This incident took place in Tecalitlán and resulted in patrolling Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) forces securing a large weapons and munitions cache attributed to the CJNG (given where it was discovered). The imagery was released by SEDENA to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a ‘for public distribution’ notification. It was part of a larger seizure including “four 2×16 sticks of emulsion explosives, 7 IEDs, 19 tactical vests, 1,123 rounds of ammunition, 1 AK-47 rifle, 27 helmets, 11 clips (mags), and 350 link pieces for a 50-cal rifle.”
The bomblets in Image 3 appear to be constructed of one-inch diameter water threaded pipe nipples (or the closest metric pipe equivalent: 32 mm). The pipe sections are sealed on both ends for confinement. The forward section is sealed with a threaded conventional pipe cap that is shown in the enhanced close-up photograph below the main image. The fuze section that is mounted on the pipe cap is likely to be an improvised contact detonating fuze; however, beyond that, nothing can be positively determined from the photograph.
Taken from Tepalcatepec, Michoacán (Tierra Caliente), Mexico, these IEDs made by the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
These particular containers have an internal volume of 0.3-liters (10.14 oz.). The two remaining containers with the green lids are unknown generic, sealable food containers that possess a slightly lower internal volume. The payloads of all of the containers, where visible, contain industrial ball bearings of at least two sizes and a plastic explosive that has been identified in a number of reports and videos as Composition C-4. However, the color of the explosive within the containers does not match the color any of the normal C-4 composition grades in production.
The color does, however, match very closely to one of the grades of Semtex explosives. Composition C-4 is somewhat prevalent throughout Mexico and the auto-defense force providing the interview and information for the videos may have assumed that it was C4 rather than Semtex. The distinction, if accurate, however, may have far more value from an intelligence viewpoint as both Composition C-4 and several grades of Semtex have very similar performance characteristics.
The perpetrators of the attack were identified by the Government of Mexico (GoM) as members of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), a weaponized drone attack on police officers engaged in clearing a road from cartel obstacles near the town of Aguililla with two officers subsequently wounded. Was speculated to be a C-4 based IED (presumably with a shrapnel load; likely ball bearings) used for point detonation appears to make the most sense in this incident from an attack utilization and trend perspective.
"Through inter-institutional operations, the strengthening of the security and crime prevention scheme continues in the municipality of Huacana, where together with federal forces and the Attorney General's Office of the State of Michoacán we maintain constant mobilizations, such as the deactivation of a clandestine weapons and explosives factory. and camouflage uniforms."
Feb 4. 2022: Drug cartels in western Mexico have started using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the ongoing war with the government. Though Mexican cartels have used explosives, drones and homemade armored cars in the past, the Associated Press reported that this is the first time they have used IEDs, or homemade explosives. According to a report by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, IEDs can take many forms, from a 1-pound explosive stuffed into an envelope to "a sophisticated device capable of causing massive damage and loss of life."
Mexican television station Milenio described the IEDs the cartels have used as pipe bombs with a cone-shaped cap that directs the explosion. "They have a pipe with a round base. And then the top, instead of using the regular cap that we've seen in the past, it is more like conical, like a triangle with a point."
The self-defense movement spokesman told AP that the cartel's improvised land mines did a large amount of damage to one of the army's armored vehicles. Mexico's Defense Department confirmed to AP that army patrols had been attacked near Tepalcatepec with explosives four times but did not give details on the types of explosives.
August 23. 2024: The Mexican army said Tuesday that drug cartels have increased their use of roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices — especially bomb-dropping drones — this year, with 42 soldiers, police and suspects wounded by IEDs so far in 2023, up from 16 in 2022.Six car bombs have been found so far in 2023, up from one in 2022.
However, car bombs were also occasionally used years ago in northern Mexico. Overall, 556 improvised explosive devices of all types - roadside, drone-carried and car bombs - were found in 2023.
"All of these explosive devices are homemade, based on tutorials that can be found on the internet, most of the devices appear to have been made with black powder which is available in the marketplace, or more powerful blasting compounds stolen from mines."
July 12. 2023: Méndez said the two dead civilians were in a vehicle that happened to be passing the spot when the IEDs detonated, and suggested the bombs may have been remotely detonated.
A federal official acknowledged that another cartel had used a car bomb to kill a national guard officer in the neighboring state of Guanajuato.
The IEDs included devices detonated by radio or telephone signal, by pressure – as when someone steps on them – or even by vials that break and combine two chemicals.
Mexico documented 260 drone attacks involving explosive devices in 2023, according to the Ministry of Defense. Most of the attacks have been attributed to the Jalisco cartel.
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