Mexican authorities are investigating an explosion at a border state shopping center. The blast comes two months after state policemen died when their house exploded in an apparent cartel attack, which was officially labeled a gas leak.
The blast took place on Monday in Saltillo, Coahuila, at a shopping center in the Villas de San Lorenzo neighborhood. The explosion appears to have been centered at a restaurant where Birria and other meats are sold and completely destroyed the building.
Information provided to Breitbart Texas by officials with the local Civil Protection department notes the blast broke the windows of approximately 50 homes in the surrounding area and caused structural damages to seven buildings. Two women driving past the shopping center at the moment of the blast had to be medically evaluated but were released.
State authorities claim the blast was due to a gas explosion, similar to the police home incident. As Breitbart Texas reported, that blast was allegedly caused by cartel members targeting the officers belonging to the security detail of the Coahuila Attorney General. In the aftermath of the blast at the house, the Sinaloa Cartel took credit. Authorities still maintain that gas was to blame. No criminal organization has taken credit for the most recent case at the shopping center to date.
Coahuila Attorney General Gerardo Marquez has told local news outlets to avoid promoting “false news” and narratives that “promote fear and panic.” Marquez said there is “firm evidence that the blast was caused by the accumulation of gas” at the shopping center.
Coahuila has seen a rise in cartel violence in recent months. In the northern part of the state, the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas has carried out numerous attacks on law enforcement.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.E. Herrera” and “J.M. Martinez” from Coahuila.