Unknown Group Carries Out First Mexico City Bombing in 20 Years

A Mexican group called the Pagan Sect of the Mountain claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack on several buses outside of Mexico City that caused damage to four vehicles, but left no victims. They promised to continue bombing targets if nature continued to be destroyed by mankind and declared “fire and explosives against civilization.”

This is the first attack with explosives in Mexico City in more than 20 years, when a bank and the exit to a subway station were bombed by groups claiming to be supporters of the Zapatista movement. Organized crime has been accused of carrying out many explosive attacks in provincial areas.

In 2010, Reuters reported that an organized crime group had attacked the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, in the northern state of Tamaulipas, prompting the U.S. government to close down the office for good. In 2011, according to CNN, more attacks with explosives were reported in a six-month period in Mexico than in any other country in the world.

“Cities grow exponentially devouring mountains and wild habitat, taking over territories where coyotes, deer, hawks and natural reserves, forcing extinction of wildlife and natural reserves,” the Pagan Sect of the Mountain said in statement, accepting responsibility for the attacks.

“If civilization continues to destroy nature, we will respond in the same way,” by attacking targets in the metropolitan area.

The group – which claimed responsibility for the attack, together with several other unidentified groups – explained they inherited the “fiercest” struggles of their predecessors against progress when it comes to the destruction of natural habitats.

Photo: Secta Pagana de la Montaña / Contra Info

The bombs went off on Saturday, on the state-run Mexibus bus line, causing damage to four buses.

Four or five homemade bombs, which had been placed on different buses, did not go off.

The bombs were placed in the buses in the Mexibus depot in the Mexico state municipality of Ecatepec, north of Mexico City, which is part of the metropolitan area.

Photos: Secta Pagana de la Montaña / Contra Info

The group, which proclaims to be anarchist, explained their attacks have nothing to do with the plights of bus drivers, nor did they claim to be in opposition to the bus line.

“We are not interested in the cancellation of bus routes, nor do we advocate in favor of bus drivers who have been fired, nor do we demand more security for the bus stops, as the press has been saying,” they said.

The group's statement was sent to a website called Contra Info along with photos of a bomb and the buses. Contra Info was founded in Athens, Greece, in 2010 and claims to be run by anarchists and activists.

The Attorney General's office said investigations have been initiated, but no other statement has been released by the local or federal government regarding the attack.