Pubdate: Mon, 19 Jul 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Diana Washington Valdez

FBI, ATF AID CAR BOMB INQUIRY

Experts with the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives are helping Mexican authorities with their
investigation of the July 15 car bombing in Juarez that killed three
people.

"The FBI sent a small team to the crime scene to consult with our
Mexican counterparts and we have offered them technical assistance
with the car bombing," El Paso FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons said
Sunday. "We would only be involved if the Mexican government asked for
our assistance in some way."

The ATF is also assisting, said Tom Crowley, a spokesman for the
agency in Dallas.

"The ATF is providing Mexican officials with help on the technical
aspects of the bomb," Crowley said. "We have provided post-blast
training to Mexican law enforcement in the past. It is the same kind
of training we give to state and local police in the United States.

"Post-blast involves reconstructing the device used in the explosion
so investigators can determine what it was and where it might have
come from."

Mexican officials attributed last Thursday's deadly attack to
enforcers of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel. They said the bombing
took place because police had arrested Jesus Armando Acosta Guerrero,
35, a lieutenant in the cartel.

Acosta was arrested in Juarez last year in connection with the Nov. 4
shooting at the Amadeus club that killed six men, including U.S. Air
Force Staff Sgt. David Booher of Holloman Air Force Base.

Mexican officials did not say why Acosta was released before his
second arrest July 15 before the bombing.

Military officials said a C-4 plastic explosive was used in the car
bomb, and apparently was set off remotely with a cell phone.

Car bombs have been used by terrorists and guerrilla groups in the
Middle East, Ireland, Spain and Colombia.

The Juarez bombing involved an elaborate scheme. Officials said the
perpetrators dressed a man in a police uniform and laid him on the
ground to lure others to the body.

The explosion occurred right after a paramedic and a federal agent
approached the body.

Luis Hernandez, a cameraman for Channel 5 in Juarez, was injured in
the attack. He filmed the scene before the explosion, and continued
running his camera after he was hurt.

The Carrillo Fuentes and Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman cartels have been
waging a brutal battle to control the Chihuahua state drug smuggling
corridor that's claimed more than 1,500 lives so far this year.

On Sunday, the Mexican Public Safety Secretary's Office announced that
between Dec. 1, 2006, and July 16, 2010, it had detained 1,626 people
with organized crime groups involved in drug-trafficking and
kidnappings. The agency provided the following breakdown for
detentions by cartel:

- - Sinaloa or Guzman cartel, 304 leaders detained.

- - Gulf cartel (Zetas), 622 leaders detained.

- - Tijuana cartel, 65 leaders detained.

- - The Familia Michoacana cartel, 517 leaders detained.

- - Carrillo Fuentes cartel, 84 leaders detained.

- - Valle de Colombia (Colombia Valley) cartel, 34 leaders detained in Mexico. 
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