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

A first skirmish took place in the town of Tecpan de Galeana, near the Pacific coast, where two were killed and four more wounded.

Later, security forces battled a criminal group that had attacked a military base in the same area, killing 14 gunmen, according to a statement from the secretariat of national defense SEDENA.

Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence linked to turf wars between cartels fighting for control of drug production and trafficking.

Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state, which is home to the resort of Acapulco, a former playground for the rich and famous, now plagued by crime.

In early October, the mayor of the capital city of Guerrero was assassinated less than a week after taking office, with his beheading causing outrage throughout the country and requires more protection.

Further north, in Guanajuato state on Thursday, a car bomb detonated outside a police station, wounding three officers, local officials said.

The blast damaged the police station, four houses and several residences, but police officers were the only people injured, the department said.

Officials said another explosion, apparently a second car bomb, occurred in the nearby city of Jerecuaro. Although no one was injured, the force of the second explosion was enough to blow the tiled roof off a building, blacken the facades of surrounding shops and set fire to a police patrol van.

The near-simultaneous attacks in two different cities located about half an hour apart suggested the involvement of drug cartels that have been waging bloody battles for years in Guanajuato.

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

On October 4, the bodies of 12 slain police officers were found in different areas of Salamanca, a city in Guanajuato.

Cartel wars persist

Officials say the violence in the state stems from a conflict between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and those in the the Jalisco New Generation cartelone of the strongest in all of Mexico.

“I want to be very emphatic: our priority is the pacification of Guanajuato and we will accomplish this complex task together,” said state governor Libia Garcia. said on social media after Thursday’s attack.

She said an air and ground operation involving state security forces had been launched to support the municipal police.

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

chairman Claudia Sheinbaumwho took office on October 1, pledged to continue her predecessor’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while making better use of intelligence.

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

The cartel’s northwestern Sinaloa stronghold has also seen an increase in violence since the July arrest of the drug lord. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States. Last month, he pleaded not guilty in a US drug-trafficking case accusing him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.

On Monday, the Mexican troops were shot 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel after being attacked.

the capture of Zambada sparked infighting between his supporters and gunmen loyal to the founder of the closed cartel Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his sons.

Zambada accused Joaquin Guzman Lopez,– one of El Chapo’s sons who led a faction of the cartel known as the “Chapitos” — to kidnap him and hand him over to U.S. law enforcement.

According to an indictment released by the US Department of Justice last year, “Chapitos” and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electric shocks and chili peppers to torture their rivals while some of their victims were “fed alive or dead to tigers.” El Chapo’s sons were of the 28 indicted members of the Sinaloa cartel in a massive fentanyl trafficking investigation announced in April 2023.

El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons offences.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.