International

Police killed, guards held in gang violence-stricken Ecuador

Photo: Gerardo Menoscal / AFP

| By AFP |

Two police officers were killed, two more wounded and prison guards taken hostage Tuesday in the latest wave of attacks in a deadly gang war consuming Ecuador, authorities said.

Officials said “organized crime” groups responded to the transfer of detainees from the Guayas 1 prison with nine attacks using explosives and firearms.

The prison, in the southwestern port city of Guayaquil, is one of the main scenes of a series of bloody prison massacres that have left about 400 inmates dead since February 2021.

“We have had reactions” of “organized crime” in Guayaquil and in the northwestern oil port of Esmeraldas, Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters in the capital, Quito.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

These included car bomb attacks.

In the early morning hours, two police officers died when their patrol car was attacked by people with firearms in Guayaquil, according to police. A separate attack on a police station in Guayaquil left two officers injured.

In Esmeraldas — the same city where two beheaded bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge on Monday — inmates took eight guards hostage, according to the SNAI prison authority.

A video circulated on Twitter appears to show two guards with explosives tied to their bodies and a man claiming to be an inmate denouncing prison “corruption.” AFP could not independently verify the video.

“If war is what they want, war is what they’ll get,” says the man, his face obscured, adding: “We will use these guards.”

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

‘Find the perpetrators’

Police commander General Fausto Salinas said at the press conference in Quito that four of the guards were since released.

The SNAI had earlier announced on Twitter that it was moving about 200 inmates from the Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil. It said the transfers were necessitated by required maintenance to cell blocks. But according to the purported hostage video, the move was the reason for the events at Esmeraldas.

“Given the events in Esmeraldas and GYE (Guayaquil), we activated our tactical and investigative units to maintain order and find the perpetrators,” the police said on Twitter.

Once a relatively peaceful neighbor of major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen a wave of violent crime that authorities blame on turf battles between rival drug gangs believed to have ties to Mexican cartels.

Hundreds of inmates have been killed — many beheaded or incinerated — as the fighting spilled into prisons. Civilians have increasingly been caught up in the violence, which has included a spate of car bombs.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

The violence has claimed 61 police lives since last year. Ecuador has gone from being a drug transit route in recent years to an important distribution center in its own right, with the United States and Europe the main destinations.

The murder rate in Ecuador nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 per 100 000 inhabitants, and reached 18 per 100,000 between January and October this year. In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. So far this year’s seizures total 160 tons.

Related Topics:Ecuador Gangs Police Violence

Up Next

Court frees one of four accused in Argentina VP attack

Don't Miss

Protesters block Brazil roads for second day after Bolsonaro loss

20260224_estafa_mh_300x250

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”