Deadly cartel drone attack strikes remote Mexican village

An alleged cartel drone attack in a remote community in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero killed 5 people, the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said.

In a translated press release, the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said that the cartel attacked at least 30 people in the remote Mexican village that is plagued by cartel violence.

Officials confirmed that five people were burned to death in a January 4 attack.

“Through the Ministerial Investigative Police, on January 5, 2024, the first field investigations were conducted,” the translated press release said. “Authorities found charred bone remains corresponding to 5 people from a burned vehicle.” 

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The attack is believed to have involved drones operated by cartel members, as well as gunmen, according to the religious and human rights organization Minerva Bello Center.

Prosecutors attributed the attack to a “confrontation” between warring criminal groups La Familia Michoacana and Los Tlacos, “who maintain a dispute for control of the area.”

State prosecutors said in the translated press release that they offered relatives the opportunity for genetic testing “to determine the identity of the victims” and “to generate new lines of investigation,” but they were “rejected.” 

“This is a conflict that has many communities terrified,” Minerva Bello Center’s director, José Filiberto Velázquez, said.

Two days later, on Jan. 6, another city in the same state erupted in gunfire.

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Six people were killed, and 13 people were injured in the fallout, prosecutors confirmed.

Mexico is home to at least 200 cartels and criminal organizations, according to conflict-tracking organization Crisis Group. Rival cartels warring for territory have caused violence to surge in recent years.

Guerrero has become one of the hotbeds for conflict in Mexico, and in October a police chief and 13 officers were ambushed and shot dead in the state.

State prosecutors said the Ministerial Investigative Police “will remain in the area until these events are fully clarified and the perpetrators of this crime are brought to justice.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.