SMALL BOMB IS THROWN AT U.S. POST IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY - An explosive device hurled over a wall at the United
States Consulate in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo on Friday
night has renewed fears that Mexico's violent drug trafficking
organizations may be focusing their wrath on the American government,
which has backed President Felipe Calderon's antidrug offensive.

American officials said Saturday that the consulate in Nuevo Laredo
and a consular office in nearby Piedras Negras were to be closed
indefinitely beginning Monday. The attack, which occurred around 11
p.m. Friday, shattered windows but injured no one, American officials
said in a statement on the consulate's Web site.

In Mexico City, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday
that they were reviewing video from security cameras at the
consulate, along with other evidence from the scene. A federal
official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told news services
that the explosive appeared to have been homemade.

The episode follows the shooting deaths last month of three people
linked to the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, a border city
that has been wracked by drug-related violence recently.

In 2008, suspected traffickers threw a grenade at a consulate in
Monterrey. The device, which did not explode, was later traced to a drug gang.

Because of threats against American interests in northern Mexico, the
State Department last month allowed consular workers along the border
to move their families to the United States from Mexico.

The latest attack came at a delicate time as Michelle Obama, the
first lady, is due to arrive in Mexico City on Tuesday in what the
White House has billed as her first solo international trip of her
husband's presidency. The Obama administration recently vowed to
continue backing Mr. Calderon's efforts to crush Mexico's powerful
drug cartels.