Seven Killed In Gang-ridden Ecuador's Latest Massacre

Quito, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2024) Seven people were killed when gunmen opened fire on an illegal cockfight in gang violence-stricken Ecuador, police said.

A group of at least eight gunmen on motorcycles attacked the 200-odd people gathered for the event in the western town of Samborondon on Sunday, according to police official Dennis Cardenas.

At least three other people were injured, and several were robbed of their belongings, he added.

According to local media, some of the victims had as many as 40 bullet wounds.

Samborondon is in Guayas province on Ecuador's Pacific coast, where drug gangs with ties to international cartels have left a trail of blood as they vie for control of trafficking routes.

The province is home to the port city of Guayaquil, the main exit point for drugs bound for the United States and Europe.

The once peaceful country of 17 million inhabitants has seen its homicide rate increase eightfold in five years.

The rise in crime prompted President Daniel Noboa in January to declare a state of "internal armed conflict."

Cockfighting is illegal in most of Ecuador.

X