A deadly ambush in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas has left five state police officers dead, marking one of the most violent attacks on security forces in recent months as cartel-related violence continues to spiral across the region.
The officers were reportedly on a routine patrol Monday in Frontera Comalapa, a volatile border town near Guatemala, when they were suddenly ambushed by a heavily armed group. The Chiapas State Governor, Eduardo Ramírez, confirmed the attack in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“Members of the state police were attacked and ambushed,” the governor wrote, expressing condolences and vowing justice.
In response to the attack, the Chiapas State Security Secretariat deployed more than 1,000 additional officers to reinforce the area and secure the town, which has become a flashpoint in the ongoing turf war between Mexico’s most powerful cartels.
Dramatic images shared by authorities showed a state police vehicle engulfed in flames on a highway, a grim reminder of the growing lawlessness gripping the region.
The ambush highlights the escalating territorial conflict between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)—two of Mexico’s deadliest criminal syndicates—fighting for control of key smuggling corridors near the Guatemalan border.
In recent months, Chiapas, once seen as relatively shielded from cartel brutality, has become a new front in the war for drug and human trafficking routes. Civilians and law enforcement alike have increasingly found themselves caught in the crossfire.
Since 2006, when the Mexican government launched a military-led campaign against organized crime, over 480,000 people have been killed, with more than 120,000 still missing, according to government figures and rights groups. Most of the violence is linked to drug trafficking and criminal turf wars.
Despite ongoing federal efforts to clamp down on organized crime, many regions—especially in rural southern Mexico—remain under the influence or outright control of armed criminal groups.
Authorities in Chiapas say investigations into Monday’s ambush are underway, and a manhunt for the perpetrators has begun.
