TEHRAN, March 06 (MNA) – Three farmers were killed Tuesday by a bomb planted in a dirt road in the cartel-dominated western Mexico state of Michoacan.A state security official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said the blast occurred in the rural township of Tumbiscatio, ABC News reported.

Graphic photos of the scene posted on social media suggest the blast was so powerful that it blew the farmer’s truck in half flipped it, and blew the victims’ limbs off.

It was the latest instance of what appears to be an increasing use of improvised explosive devices by drug cartels battling for control of Michoacan.

It came just days after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that an improvised explosive device killed at least four soldiers in what he called a “trap” likely set by a cartel in Michoacan.

In its most recent report in August, the army said attacks with roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices have risen sharply.

The Defense Department said 42 soldiers, police, and suspects were wounded by improvised explosive devices in the first eight months of 2023, up from 16 in all of 2022.

SD/PR