Bomb Experts Describe Components, Sophistication Of Juarez Bomb

The car bomb that exploded near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez last week was a sophisticated device never before seen in Mexico, triggered by cellphone after police and medical workers were lured to the scene, according to Mexican and U.S. investigators.

The attack, which killed a police officer, a doctor and a man used as a decoy, represents a clear escalation in the weapons and tactics employed by Mexico’s powerful drug trafficking organizations, U.S. law enforcement agents told the Washington Post.

Bomb experts with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who have been training their Mexican counterparts, scrambled to help reconstruct the device. Parts of it recovered from the scene in downtown Ciudad Juarez were flown to Mexico City, where top officials from the United States and Mexico were briefed on the heightened threat.

U.S. and Mexican officials said they are taking seriously a message found after the attack that warned of more violence and demonstrated how closely the United States and Mexico are intertwined in the fight against the cartels.

Read the full Washington Post article here.

Related Links:Video:Link:Siege Of Juarez In PicturesLink:Los Angeles Times Mexico Drug War Special Project