Why Mexican cartels are increasingly using car bombs and other explosives

Mexico's drug cartels are increasingly resorting to car bombs, explosives-laden drones, and improvised explosive devices, a development that could heighten tensions between Mexico and the United States, according to President Donald Trump.

On Sunday night, a car bomb outside a police station in the city of Ojocaliente, located 360 miles northwest of Mexico City, injured 11 people and damaged over 60 homes, though no fatalities were reported. This incident marks the latest in a series of explosive attacks this year in Zacatecas, where authorities recorded 23 explosive incidents, including six involving cars or motorcycles packed with explosives.

While car bombs are not common in Mexico, they have been employed in the past. In 1994, the Tijuana Cartel detonated a car bomb in Guadalajara targeting Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel co-founder. More recently, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, has ramped up its use of explosives as it expands its operations throughout Mexico.

Authorities attribute two recent bombings in small city centers to the CJNG: one in Michoacán that killed five people in December and Sunday's attack in Zacatecas. The CJNG, designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration, has employed explosives extensively over the past five years, using them in drones to target security forces or rivals and burying them to defend or control territory.

In 2023, roadway bombs planted by drug cartels in Jalisco state killed six people and injured 14. The military seized approximately 2,800 explosive devices nationwide over the preceding 4.5 years, and in 2024, authorities deactivated nearly 3,200 explosive devices in Michoacán state alone. In 2025, an explosive device killed eight soldiers, one of the deadliest incidents in Mexican history.

Experts warn that the escalating use of car bombs in Mexico intensifies the atmosphere of fear, retaliation, and instability. While Mexico has resisted labeling cartel violence as terrorism to avoid foreign intervention and preserve tourism and investment, civilians have been deliberately targeted in past attacks, including grenades thrown into Independence Day celebrations in Morelia in 2008 and a casino fire in northern Mexico in 2016.