GUAYAQUIL/QUITO, Jan 10 (Reuters): Ecuador's president has ordered that criminal gangs be "neutralised" after days of violence culminated in an attack on a television studio. Masked gunmen broke into public television channel TC's live studio during a broadcast, forcing staff to the floor.
Police made 13 arrests following the attack, which injured two employees. The emergency was declared after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell. It is unclear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city of the boss of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, or Fito as he is better known.
At least 10 people, including two law enforcement officers, have been killed in violence linked to criminal gangs in Ecuador, police said Tuesday, in what the country's president described as "an internal armed conflict."
Eight people were dead and three injured in a series of attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, a local police chief said at a press conference. In a separate statement posted on X, police also said that two officers were "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol.
Ecuador declares war on armed gangs after TV station attacked on air
10 dead in gang violence
FE Team | Published: January 10, 2024 23:28:36
Ecuador declares war on armed gangs after TV station attacked on air
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