An improvised landmine apparently planted by a drug cartel killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others, Mexico's defense minister said Tuesday. Before the explosion, soldiers found the dismembered bodies of three people, officials said.

General Ricardo Trevila admitted that the army had already suffered six deaths from such improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, between 2018. and 2024 But he did not specify whether the six were killed by bombs dropped by drones or by buried roadside bombs, both of which have been used by gangs in Mexico.

Trevila said devices like the one that exploded Monday were "very common" and officials in the past have described them as similar to buried pipe bombs. There was no immediate word on the condition of the five injured in the attack, which included at least one officer.

Trevila's description of the scene where the two soldiers died Monday in the western state Michoacan suggested it might be some sort of sinister drug cartel trap.

Trevila said the army had sent a patrol to check reports that there was a camp of armed men in a rural area. The armed forces found an area protected by fences that appeared to be a camp, but when the soldiers approached in vehicles, they found the path blocked by logs, so they dismounted and had to approach on foot.

As they approached, they noticed three dismembered bodies near the camp, which appeared to be abandoned. But as they approached, a buried device exploded and hit the soldiers.

Trevila blamed the blast on the United Cartels, a group that includes the local Viagra gang, which has waged bloody battles against the Jalisco cartel in Michoacán for years.

In August, the Mexican military admitted that some of its soldiers had been killed by bomb-dropping drones run by drug cartels.

Officials have previously said the army encounters many more roadside bombs than those dropped by drones.

The Jalisco drug cartel has battled local gangs for control of Michoacán for years, and the situation has become so militarized that rival cartels use roadside bombs, or IEDs, trenches, fortifications, improvised armored vehicles and sniper rifles.

Nemesio Oceguera-Cervantesalso known as "El Mencho", the leader of the Jalisco Cartel, which officials describe as "one of the most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations in the world." The United States and the State Department proposed a $10 million prize for his capture.

In the only previous detailed report on cartel bombings in August 2023 the defense ministry said at the time that a total of 42 soldiers, police and suspects were injured by improvised explosive devices in the first seven and a half months of 2023. up from 16 in all of 2022.

Overall in 2023. 556 improvised explosive devices of all kinds were found - roadside, drone and car bombs, the army announced in news release last year.