VICTORIA, Mexico – A car bomb exploded outside the studios of a top TV broadcaster early yesterday, just days after marines found the bodies of 72 people gunned down in Mexico’s escalating drugs war.
The blast, the second modest-sized bomb planted in a vehicle this month in Victoria, the capital of the northern Gulf state of Tamaulipas, and the third in Mexico since late July, caused no casualties but damaged buildings.
The attack came the same day as officials discovered the body of a police officer who had been investigating the massacre.
Yesterday’s explosion, apparently part of a growing campaign of intimidation against the media, left little more than the car’s engine and front chassis near the studio of broadcaster Televisa in the city, located 350km (220 miles) south of the Texas border.
Televisa did not give details of the blast and it was unclear what explosives were used or how the bomb was detonated.
No group was immediately blamed for the explosion.
Car bombs are a new weapon in Mexico’s drug war. So far, the devices appear to have been relatively unsophisticated and have not caused widespread destruction.
Four people were killed in July in the violent city of Juarez by a bomb planted in a car, the first such attack since President Felipe Calderon took office.
More than 28,000 people have died in drug violence since Mr Calderon launched his war on drugs in late 2006.
Fourteen drug-related slayings were reported in various locations in the beach resort of Acapulco yesterday.
Several of the bound and blindfolded victims were covered with messages threatening rival cartels with further reprisals.
As gruesome attacks become more common, Mr Calderon is seeking to convince civic leaders, businessmen and opposition politicians that his war is making headway.
“The paradox is that in other areas there can be advances . . . in improving the economy, in social policy, but while this matter keeps weighing heavily on the daily life of ordinary people, the country will not move forward as much as it should with its enormous potential,” Mr Calderon said at a security forum in Mexico City.
The explosion in Victoria was at least the fourth apparent attack on Televisa studios in northern Mexico since last year.
At least 30 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006, – (Reuters)