Seven people, including minors, killed in attack in Ecuador

Seven individuals were killed during an assault in the Guayaquil region in southwestern Ecuador, which is considered the crime hub of the country, as announced by the police.

The bodies of seven men, including minors, were found with gunshot wounds in Nobol, in the province of Guayas, about forty kilometers from Guayaquil, as stated by the police in a statement. Two of the deceased had criminal records.

The attack was reportedly driven by revenge, according to local newspapers citing police sources, occurring late Friday into Saturday, with security forces taking several hours to locate all the bodies.

Ecuador has witnessed a growing number of such killings, with the murder rate rising from six per one hundred thousand people in 2018 to forty-three per one hundred thousand in 2023.

At the end of March, eight people were killed in Guayaquil, including five Ecuadorian tourists who were kidnapped and murdered on a beach after the attackers mistook them for their enemies.

AFP