A gang-related shooting has left nine people dead in northern Ecuador close to the Colombian border.
Dozens of attackers arrived in boats and cars at a small port in Esmeraldas province on Tuesday April 11, and then opened fire, the public prosecutor said
Interior Minister Juan Zapata told the Ecuavisa television channel that the attack was carried out by 30 heavily armed people and said it was related to “a fight between gangs, a territorial fight.”
Zapata said there were between 1,500 and 2,000 people in the port, which is home to fishermen using artisanal techniques, at the time of the morning shooting.
The attack happened because fishermen “preferred the security” of one criminal organization and were targeted by another in retaliation, added Zapata.
In a tweet, the public prosecutor said seven bodies were recovered from the port and two more from a nearby health center.
Impoverished Esmeraldas province has been under a state of emergency since March 3 due to high levels of crime and violence, as has the port city of Guayaquil.
These areas have become increasingly bloody centers of a turf war between rival drug trafficking gangs.
Esmeraldas, which is popular with tourists, is considered by authorities to be one of the places with the highest levels of crime in the country.
Last month, police found three bodies, including a teenager, wrapped in black bags in the province. Authorities said they were linked to criminal gangs.
“In three weeks here we have seized 1.2 tons of drugs,” said Zapata.