Five Dead And Twelve Injured In Explosion Outside Police Station In Mexico

Five people have been killed and twelve injured following an explosion outside a police station in Mexico's western state of Michoacan, where the government recently launched a large operation to quash escalating violence.

Border Report noted that the blast took place in the center of the town of Coahuayana, on the coast of Michoacan. According to the state's prosecutor's office, a pickup truck exploded outside the station, killing three members of a community police force and injuring five more.

Hector Zepeda, the commander of the force, said the explosion was so powerful that human remains were left scattered in the area.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said the blast was not a terrorist attack or a response to the plan aimed at addressing violence in the state.

Michoacan has dominated headlines in the country over the past weeks after the assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo in the middle of a public square.

By early December, federal and state forces have arrested nine people and opened legal proceedings against them, while another suspect remains at large. Garcia Harfuch said Manzo's killing was planned with the help of Jorge Armando "N," a man who, according to recent statements from authorities, worked for the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) in the states of Michoacán and Guanajuato.

Although he did not mention him by name, Michoacán Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said during a Dec. 4 press conference that Jorge Armando "N" had ties not only in Michoacán but also with CJNG cells in Guanajuato.

"This individual also carried out criminal activity in Guanajuato," Ramírez Bedolla said, as reported by Infobae México.

According to investigators, "El Licenciado" ordered members of a criminal cell to carry out the hit on the Uruapan mayor at all costs and instructed them to delete messages and hide to avoid detection.