By Dave Anderson:
A Mexican cartel detonated a small car-bomb in Ciudad Juarez as part of a reasonably well-planned ambushed aimed at Mexican government security forces. The LA Times has some more details:
Four are killed in what officials call a well-planned trap near a
federal police headquarters. It appears to be the first time traffickers
have used a car bomb since the start of a military-led offensive
against drug cartels.
Drug traffickers have added a powerful weapon to their arsenal,
employing a car packed with nearly 20 pounds of explosives to kill
police officers, Mexican authorities said Friday.
Compared to IRA, Iraqi and Afghani car bombs, a bomb with twenty pounds of C-4 or other military grade plastic explosives is a small bomb. However, for an initial experiment top create a mobile area denial munition that is easily concealable in an urban environment, a twenty pound car bomb is a significant increase in capability.
Explosives are common, cheap and reasonably powerful as there are significant mining operations in northern Mexico. The proliferation of cheap, easy to use and reasonably reliable IEDs, either as roadside bombs or as car bombs would mean the cartels could create belts of IEDs that are tough and expensive to clear. The proliferation of car bombs and IEDs, or at least the perception of that threat should force the police and the Mexican military to engage in far heavier and larger supported patrols that may or may not pass through certain neighborhoods on any regular frequency. Fewer and noisier patrols means neighborhoods within major contested urban areas are effectively conceded from the state's monopoly on violence and legitimacy.
If we see a proliferation of car bombs in both numbers and types, the temporary autonomous zones along the Mexican border region will be significantly enlarged and better protected.
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