Explosions Damage Offices in Mexico City

Monday, November 6, 2006


Homemade bombs exploded early Monday at the Federal Electoral Tribunal, a bank branch and the headquarters of the former ruling party in the country's capital.

Police deactivated a fourth explosive before it went off at a second bank branch and were inspecting a backpack found outside an outlet of the Mexican restaurant chain Sanborns.


A man stands among the debris after a bomb exploded at the back door to the Federal Electoral Tribunal in Mexico City, Mexico, early Monday, Nov. 5, 2006. Three simultaneous explosions late Sunday targeted the offices of one of Mexico's main political parties, the headquarters of the country's electoral tribunal and a bank. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

There were no injuries and no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombs, which were widely dispersed across the city. Emergency officials received two telephone calls shortly after midnight warning that bombs were about to be detonated.

The explosions shortly afterward damaged an auditorium at the headquarters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. They also shattered windows and caused minor damage at the bank, electoral court and nearby businesses and residences _ rattling nerves in Mexico, which has been besieged by protests since its polarizing July 2 presidential elections.

"We categorically reject these criminal acts aimed at frightening the population, and we're going to work vigorously to clear this up and guarantee security," President Vicente Fox said.

Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas asked residents not to panic but acknowledged the blasts were "creating a climate of uncertainty."

Mexico City's police department intensified security in the city's public transportation system, as well as at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, several federal government offices and at the U.S. and British Embassies, said a spokesman for the department, who was not authorized to give his name.

The explosions came a day after more than 20,000 leftists from across Mexico marched in the southern city of Oaxaca to demand the withdrawal of federal police who were sent in on Oct. 29 to end violence linked to a five-month protest against the state's governor.

Flavio Sosa, a protest leader, said his movement had no ties to the explosions and did not know who could be behind them.

A PRI representative told radio station Formato 21 the explosions were probably carried out by groups trying to destabilize the government before President-elect Felipe Calderon's swearing-in on Dec. 1. Calderon is a member of Fox's ruling National Action Party.

The PRI backed the electoral tribunal when it confirmed Calderon's victory by less than 1 percentage point over leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador, former mayor of Mexico City and a member of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, claimed the election was tainted by fraud and asked for a complete recount, which the court refused to order.

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Associated Press reporter Lisa J. Adams contributed to this report.
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