Already this year, 42 police officers, soldiers and others have been wounded, nearly triple the count in 2022. Fatalities have included a National Guard officer and several police officers.

"All of these explosive devices are homemade, based on tutorials that can be found on the internet," said Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval. Most of the them use either readily-purchased black powder, or explosives stolen from Mexican mines. They're deployed in a variety of ways -- including roadside bombs, car bombs, and bombs dropped from drone aircraft. 

Drone-bombings are surging: The tactic wasn't seen before 2020, but 260 such attacks have been tallied this year. "Even that number may be an underestimate: residents in some parts of the western state of Michoacan say that attacks by bomb-dropping drones are a near-daily occurrence," reports Associated Press.