MEXICO CITY (AP) — The number of victims killed in an explosion outside a police station in the western Mexican state of Michoacán over the weekend has risen to five, the Attorney General’s Office said Sunday.
Twelve others were injured following Saturday’s explosion, according to the office.
The blast happened at midday in the center of the town of Coahuayana, on the coast of Michoacán, a state where numerous criminal groups operate, including the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. It's also where the government recently launched a major security operation given the ongoing violence.
The state prosecutor’s office said the vehicle that exploded was a pickup truck and that the remains of two people were found at the scene. Authorities said three of those killed and five of those injured were members of a community police force.
One of the people who died at the scene was the driver of the truck that exploded, officials have said.
The use of explosives — dropped from drones, buried like mines or hidden along roads — has been an increasingly common technique used by criminal groups in the region, although it is not typical for them to be placed in cars.
According to Héctor Zepeda, commander of the community police, the explosion was so powerful that human remains were scattered throughout the area.
The police force is one of several that formed more than a decade ago during a civilian self-defense movement to fight the cartels. The community police forces were later formalized by the state, although in some areas they had been infiltrated by criminals.
The explosion happened while the state governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, was participating in a public event with President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City to celebrate seven years of government by the ruling Morena party.
For two decades, various organized crime groups have fought for control of the territory because Michoacán is a gateway for chemical precursors used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs. They also have another lucrative business: extortion.
At least three of the six drug cartels that the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations — Jalisco New Generation, United Cartels and The New Michoacan Family — operate in Michoacán, in addition to a slew of homegrown armed splinter groups, some supported by the Sinaloa Cartel.
FILE - Michoacán State Governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, left, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum attend a presentation of the new security strategy against violence for the state of Michoacan, at the National Palace in Mexico City, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel, File)
COTONOU, Benin (AP) — Benin President Patrice Talon on Sunday condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the country's army in his first public comments since sporadic gunfire was heard in parts of the administrative capital, Cotonou.
A group of soldiers appeared on Benin ’s state TV earlier Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, which would have been the latest of many in West Africa. The group called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation.
Later, Interior Minister Alassane Seidou announced in a video on Facebook that the attempted coup had been “foiled,” but Talon had not commented.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to the victims of this senseless adventure, as well as to those still being held by the fleeing mutineers,” the president said in a televised address to the nation that ended his silence. "I assure them that we will do everything in our power to find them safe and sound.”
The president did not provide figures on casualties or hostages.
“In the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny to destabilize the state and its institutions,” Seidou said. “Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic.”
The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said it has ordered the deployment of a regional troop comprising personnel from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana to support Benin's army to “preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin”.
Local media reported the arrest of 13 soldiers who took part in the coup earlier on Sunday, citing sources close to the presidency. It remains unclear if Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri, the coup leader, has been apprehended. Gunfire was heard and soldiers were seen patrolling around some locations in Cotonou, but the city has been relatively calm since the coup attempt was announced.
The Military Committee for Refoundation had earlier said that Tigri was appointed president of the military committee.
Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.
The signal to the state television and public radio, which was cut off, has now been restored.
ECOWAS had earlier called the attempted coup “a subversion of the will of the people of Benin.”
Talon has been in power since 2016 and is due to step down next April after a presidential election.
Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.
In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.
Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.
The coup attempt is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.
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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
People gather near a roadway amid an attempted coup in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
People on motorcycles pass by soldiers guarding a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
Soldiers ride in a military vehicle along a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
