Between 800 and 1,000 families were forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico, after a criminal mafia attacked them with improvised explosive devices launched by drones and powerful weapons, community and human rights groups reported Sunday.
The wave of violence in conflict-torn Guerrero state began on Wednesday when a powerful group known as Los Ardilos began attacking communities in a fiercely rural mountainous region.
Thousands of people – including children and the elderly – have been forced to flee within a few days after what they say are years of escalating attacks.
An organization representing the community, the Indigenous People’s Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata, said at least one person was injured.
Videos show families fleeing their homes early Sunday morning – on Mother’s Day – shrouded in darkness with nothing but backpacks.
Other images shared with The Associated Press show heavy gunfire echoing over farms and drones loaded with explosives dumped in the bush.
“These were days of terror,” said Marina Velasco, a representative of CIPOG-EZ. “They were bombing communities with drones, so how can one defend themselves from a drone, when bombs are falling from the sky.”
Community groups and local religious organizations said Los Ardilos had sought control of the land for years in its battle for the land with a few other rival criminal groups.
Families have fled to nearby towns, with many now taking shelter in a soccer field, Velasco said. Despite a limited number of government actors, Mexican forces have largely “abandoned” communities like these in the face of attacks by criminal groups, Velasco said.
The Mexican federal government and local state authorities in Guerrero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CIPOG-EZ has documented 76 people killed in the region due to conflict with the group in recent years, and 25 others missing.
The gangs have been using drones and more sophisticated weapons for years to wage war, a sign of how entrenched the conflict has become in areas like Guerrero, where gangs have split into rival factions.
Increasingly, communities have taken up arms themselves to fight against groups like Los Ardilos.
The bloodshed comes as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has attacked the cartels harder than her predecessor as she faces increasing pressure from President Donald Trump, who has threatened military action against the groups, which Sheinbaum called “unnecessary.”
Sheinbaum’s campaign has led to a sharp drop in homicides — about 40% — since she took office, a figure the government has boasted about even as it has been hit by a number of scandals in recent weeks.