Mexican Drug Cartel Uses VBIED To Take Out First Responders

As most of you know by now, a Mexican drug cartel has for the first time, used a car bomb detonated by remote cell phone as a weapon. The weapons used in the Mexico have been growing exponentially in their destructive caliber over the last year. From small arms, to automatic weapons, to grenade's and RPG's and now Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's).

Not only did they create and use an IED, detonated with a cellular phone, but they targeted and lured first responders by dressing an injured civilian in police clothing and calling it in as an injured police officer.

It is reported that some of the Mexican drug cartels have been working with former Colombian drug lords who have also used such tactics. 

The violence in Mexico has had a marked increased again lately, and though many reports are comparing the attack as reminiscent of past attacks in Colombia, the Chicago Times made some interesting references to terrorist organizations (the Chicago Times article is below in the references).

Reports have been made that Mexican drug cartels are working with international terror organizations before, and I wrote about it once last year here: Connection Between Mexican Drug Cartels and Terrorists Clear in which General Craig McKinley, the head of the United States National Guard said the link between terrorism and drug cartels along the United States border with Mexico is increasingly clear.

Other interesting tactics are being used as well, such as heads being cut off, bodies hung from bridges, and the comparison is made in the Chicago Times article to certain area becoming like "Iraq."

As I write this the White House has officially announced that ICE is increasing the number of National Guard Troops on the U.S. Mexican border.

Improvised Explosive Device Explodes Inside California Prision

An IED was found during a search this week at Victorville Federal Penitentiary during a "routine search of inmate property" said Traci Billingsley a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson. She also said that the device "detonated upon discovery."

Though it was stated that the incident was not terrorist related, and no one was injured in the blast, it is not 100% clear if it was intended to injure one of the guards.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the FBI bomb squads wree called to the scene to ensure that the device didn't pose any further danger.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said an investigation was under way.

Billingsley said the prison was locked down at the time the device was found. She could not say what prompted the lockdown, or if there was any connection to the search. No inmates were in the area when the explosion occurred.

"The prison remains secure," she said.