Grenades Explode Near U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that 3 grenades exploded just feet away from the U.S. Consulate on Thursday night. No injuries were reported in the blasts. The U.S. Consulate issued an alert and Mexican soldiers were deployed to guard the buildings.

The explosion seems to be the result of the continued drug cartel war in Mexico. According to the Dallas Morning News two groups are fighting over territory.

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the explosions rattled the neighborhood, as locals scurried for cover amid a firefight between what’s believed to be members of the Zetas criminal group and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, which is making a push to reclaim the territory.

The two groups appear to be battling, leaving a trail of killings and burned houses. In recent days, sources said, seven people have been killed — three of them Americans — and five homes torched.

In the late 1990s the Gulf cartel members began to recruit deserters from the Mexican army and hired them to become their bodyguards. Over time, the group became known as the Zetas, who eventually turned against their employers.

Many of the original Zetas leaders have either been killed or jailed. The remaining members, led by Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, have no military training and are what authorities on both sides of the border called “thugs.”

Nuevo Laredo, a key gateway into Texas via Interstate 35, is known as the Zetas’ headquarters. The Gulf cartel is believed to have the backing of the powerful Sinaloa cartel as it tries to eliminate the Zetas and control the lucrative route into the United States.

“Things will only heat up,” said one source. “This thing goes in waves, and we’re about to see a huge wave.”