Five dead, 15 injured in shooting and explosion in Ecuador port city
- Authorities on Sunday said several others were missing and homes were damaged in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil
- Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said the violence ‘is a declaration of war against the State’. The motive for the attack was unknown
Gunfire and a subsequent explosion left at least five people dead, 15 injured and several others missing, as well as damaging homes, in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil, authorities said on Sunday.
On its Twitter account, Ecuador’s Prosecutor’s Office said its agents were gathering evidence to establish the cause and motive for the attack in Guayaquil’s Cristo del Consuelo neighbourhood.
Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo tweeted that organised crime in Ecuador is now attacking with explosives.
Sunday’s violence “is a declaration of war against the State. Either we unite to face it or the price will be even higher for society,” he wrote.
Guayaquil, 270km (168 miles) southwest of the capital Quito, has seen frequent shootings and killings by members of rival gangs believed to have links to national and international drug trafficking. Dozens were killed last year in massacres inside the largest state prison in the city.
