The headquarters of the intelligence service of the Huenyan Federation was struck car bomb attack this morning.
At approximately 7:45 am Huenyan time, a cargo van broke through the main gate of the Federal Intelligence Service headquarters in Ixtenco. The van made it as far as the main parking lot next to the building before being stopped by multiple Federal Police vehicles. When the guards demanded that the driver exit the van, the driver apparently set off the bomb inside the van. The resulting explosion claimed the life of the driver and the twelve Federal Police officers who had attempted to stop the van, according to Huenyan officials. An additional four people inside the FIS headquarters, two agents and two civilian employees, were also killed. Fifteen people also suffered injuries.
According to the Director of the FIS, Cuetlancaona, a previously-unknown group of ethnic Xiomeran extremists opposed to the formation of the Huenyan state has claimed responsibility for the bombing. “This previously unknown group has only identified itself as the Golden Blade. They have made no demands, other than to state their opposition to the upcoming national elections and the separation of Huenya from the Xiomeran Empire,” the Director told the media.
Speaking at a joint press conference, both Great Speaker Texōccoatl and Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli stated that the group’s motivations were irrelevant to the Huenyan government. “While their motivations are of interest as far as being actionable intelligence to track down and apprehend these terrorists, their goals and beliefs are otherwise of no concern to us. Our only concern now is stopping them from further attacks, and either arresting or eliminating any terrorist affiliated with this group before they hurt anyone else,” Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli said. The Great Speaker echoed those sentiments and went even further, accusing Xiomera’s government of being behind the attack. “This is a clear retaliation for the incident at the Cauhloc. The government of Huenya acknowledged wrongdoing, apologized and tried to make amends. Calhualyana responded by using terrorists to stage an attack and hurt innocent people. If the world needed any sign still of who she really is, and what her government really is, you now have it on the bloodstained streets of Ixtenco,” Texōccoatl said.
Speaking in response, the Empress of Xiomera denied any involvement in the attack. “The incompetence of the Huenyans’ so-called intelligence service and security forces is only matched by the incompetence and inability of the Huenyans’ so-called government to convince people to believe in their agenda and not revolt against them. Neither of these issues is caused by the Xiomeran Empire, but by the Huenyans themselves, and their incessant insistence of blaming every failure of theirs on us is growing increasingly tiresome,” Calhualyana told reporters in a brief statement. “We had nothing whatsoever to do with the incident in Ixtenco and resent the implication that we are terrorists, or have anything to do with terrorists.”
The bombing has already become an issue in the run-up to Huenyan elections, with multiple candidates calling on the Vice-Speaker to step down and calling the incident a failure of his administration to keep Huenyans safe.