16 gunmen died in the clashes in Mexico, 3 police officers were injured by a bomb during the intense violence.

Multiple clashes on Thursday between Mexican security forces and suspected criminals left at least 16 people dead in the violence-hit southern state of Guerrero, the military said, on the same day a bomb went off outside a police station in western Mexico that injured three officers. .

The first conflict took place in the town of Tecpan de Galeana, near the Pacific coast, where two were killed and four were injured.

Later, the security forces fought a group of criminals who had attacked a military base in the same area, killing 14 gunmen, according to a statement from the National Defense Secretariat SEDENA.

Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence related to stone wars between gangs fighting to control drug production and human trafficking.

Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the province, which is home to the coastal city of Acapulco, a crime-ridden playground for the rich and famous.

In early October, the mayor of the capital city of Guerrero was assassinated less than a week after taking office, by his capture which arouses anger throughout the country as well demands for more protection.

Farther north on Thursday, in the state of Guanajuato, a bomb exploded outside a police station, injuring three officers, local officials said.

The blast destroyed a police station, four houses and dozens of houses but the police were the only ones injured, the ministry said.

Officials said another explosion, possibly a second car bomb, occurred in the nearby city of Jerecuaro. Although no one was injured, that second blast was enough to blow the tin roof off the building, blacken the facades of the surrounding shops and set a police truck on fire.

The near-simultaneous attacks in two separate cities about half an hour apart have raised the possibility of the involvement of drug gangs that have been waging bloody wars in Guanajuato for years.

The central region is a thriving industrial center and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is now considered the most violent state in Mexico.

On October 4, the bodies of 12 murdered policemen were found in different areas of Salamanca, a city in Guanajuato.

Cartel wars continue

Officials say the 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 emphasize very much: our priority is to strengthen Guanajuato, and we will accomplish this difficult task together,” the country’s governor Libia Garcia said on social media after Thursday’s attack.

He said an air and ground operation has been launched involving the government security forces to support the municipal police.

Mexico has suffered more than 450,000 drug-related killings since the government began using the military to fight the cartels in 2006.

The president Claudia Sheinbaumwho took office on October 1, has pledged to continue his predecessor’s “hugs not bullets” strategy of using social policy to fight crime from its roots, while making better use of intelligence.

“The war on drugs will not return,” he said, referring to the US-backed initiative launched in 2006.

The northwestern region of Sinaloa has also seen an increase in violence since the arrest of July. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States. Last month, he he pleaded not guilty in a drug trafficking case in the US accusing him of being involved in assassination plots and ordering torture.

On Monday, Mexican soldiers shot dead The 19 suspects are members of the Sinaloa Cartel after the attack.

The capture of Zambada a fight began between his followers and gunmen loyal to the founder of the arrested militia Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his sons.

Zambada is blamed Joaquin Guzman Lopez,– one of El Chapo’s sons who led a small group known as the “Chapitos” — kidnapped him and handed him over to US law enforcement.

According to the indictment released by the US Department of Justice last year, the “Chapitos” and their cartel partners used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles. harass their opponents while some of their victims were “fed dead or alive to the leopards.” El Chapo’s sons have gone among the 28 members of the Sinaloa cartel who were indicted in a major fentanyl trafficking investigation announced in April 2023.

El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado sentenced in 2019 for crimes including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related crimes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.