MEXICO CITY ( 2008-09-16 23:00:22 ) :At least seve overnight blasts at a Mexican Independence Day celebration in Michoacan, where the government is embroiled in a crackdown on violent drug gangs that has left thousands dead.
"Without doubt we are faced with a terrorist attack," Leonel Godoy, Michoacan state governor, said on national television, adding that organized criminals were the main suspects in the bombings in the town of Morelia.
Shortly before midnight (0500 GMT) explosions ripped through a crowd gathered for a re-enactment of the cry of independence known as "El Grito," in Morelia.
Violence has spiked across Mexico since Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched an offensive on drug trafficking and related attacks.
Godoy said Tuesday's planned military parades in Morelia, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) west of Mexico City, had been threatened, as had the towns of Lazaro Cardenas and Huetamo, battlegrounds in the country's drug wars.
Responsibility for the explosions was not immediately clear, but dozens of police engaged in a shootout after chasing suspects in the vicinity, the El Sol de Morelia newspaper reported.
The president's office said it "condemns the violence in the strongest terms" and promised the government would make every effort to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Calderon vowed "to rid Michoacan of these crimes and violence," after participating in an overnight celebration in Mexico City's Zocalo square, where tens of thousands of people had gathered without incident.
Despite the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers in a nationwide crackdown, almost 3,000 people have been killed across the country this year, including 24 discovered Friday in Mexico state, killed execution-style.
Mexico celebrates its independence on September 15 with a "Grito" or "Shout" in memory of a cry to war by pastor Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810 which triggered the long struggle for independence from Spain.
September 16 is a public holiday marked by military parades across the country.
"Without doubt we are faced with a terrorist attack," Leonel Godoy, Michoacan state governor, said on national television, adding that organized criminals were the main suspects in the bombings in the town of Morelia.
Shortly before midnight (0500 GMT) explosions ripped through a crowd gathered for a re-enactment of the cry of independence known as "El Grito," in Morelia.
Violence has spiked across Mexico since Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched an offensive on drug trafficking and related attacks.
Godoy said Tuesday's planned military parades in Morelia, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) west of Mexico City, had been threatened, as had the towns of Lazaro Cardenas and Huetamo, battlegrounds in the country's drug wars.
Responsibility for the explosions was not immediately clear, but dozens of police engaged in a shootout after chasing suspects in the vicinity, the El Sol de Morelia newspaper reported.
The president's office said it "condemns the violence in the strongest terms" and promised the government would make every effort to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Calderon vowed "to rid Michoacan of these crimes and violence," after participating in an overnight celebration in Mexico City's Zocalo square, where tens of thousands of people had gathered without incident.
Despite the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers in a nationwide crackdown, almost 3,000 people have been killed across the country this year, including 24 discovered Friday in Mexico state, killed execution-style.
Mexico celebrates its independence on September 15 with a "Grito" or "Shout" in memory of a cry to war by pastor Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810 which triggered the long struggle for independence from Spain.
September 16 is a public holiday marked by military parades across the country.
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