Ten dead and two injured in armed attack in Ecuador

Police in the South American country said on Sunday that 10 people were killed and two others injured in an armed attack in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, apparently linked to disputes between criminal groups in the area.

The crime took place on Saturday night, when a van with armed men arrived at a store located in a western suburb of the Pacific port city and opened fire with long weapons at a group of people.

“We believe that it is a fight of organized criminal groups, of the fight for the power of the territory,” said the police chief of the area, William Villarroel, at a press conference.

The two people injured are a woman and a girl. The minor, five years old, was transferred to a hospital, she is stable and is going to be operated on for the bullet splinters that she received in her body, Villarroel explained.

According to the police command, several of the deceased had a record for crimes such as possession of weapons, drug trafficking or robbery.

Earlier, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office reported on its Twitter account that a rifle and 9-millimeter caliber weapons were found at the scene, and that so far no arrests have been made for the crime.

According to local media, the attack took place at the doors of a mechanical workshop. Videos uploaded to social networks, the veracity of which could not be confirmed by Reuters, show that the victims were talking and listening to music in front of the store when the shooting began.

Given the increase in the activity of criminal organizations in the country, the Government took controversial measures at the beginning of the month, such as authorizing the possession and carrying of weapons by civilians, or establishing states of emergency with night curfews in various towns, including Guayaquil.

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