Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in the country due to an "internal armed conflict", ordering security forces to "neutralize" several criminal groups accused of fueling extreme violence in the Latin American country.
The decree was issued shortly after hooded gunmen disrupted a live television broadcast, one of several violent incidents across the country on January 9.
Ecuadorians were stunned as they watched the takeover of a TV studio live on TC TV from the coastal city of Guayaquil. A video on social media showed the attackers forcing state television employees to undress on the studio floor as gunshots and shouts could be heard in the background.
Ecuadorian police later said they had arrested all the gunmen and that the journalists and media workers had been evacuated and were alive.
At least four firearms, two grenades, and "explosive materials" were found and 13 people were detained, said Cesar Zapata, commander general of the national police. The perpetrators will be brought to justice for their "terrorist acts," he added.
TC Television host Jorge Rendon described the takeover as an "extremely violent attack".
"They wanted to come into the studio so we could say what they wanted, I guess their message," Rendon recalled in a video on TC Television's official account in X. Rendon said he knew of one person shot and another wounded by the attackers. The police have not officially confirmed this information.
The country has been rocked by explosions, kidnappings, and prison riots since Noboa declared a state of emergency across the country after high-ranking gang leader Adolfo "Fito" Macias escaped from prison in Guayaquil.
According to local police in Guayaquil, eight people were killed. Two policemen were also killed in the nearby town of Nobol, the national police announced on the X social network.
Meanwhile, at least seven police agents were abducted in three cities after the state of emergency was declared, a police statement said.
Ecuador is "living a real nightmare," former president Rafael Correa said in a video. The situation is "the result of the systematic destruction of the rule of law, of the accumulated acts of hatred over the past seven years."
The state of emergency will last for 60 days and will mobilize the police and armed forces to control public order disturbances.
It includes a curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. to limit gatherings and actions that may endanger public safety. Noboa's predecessor, former president Guillermo Lasso, imposed several states of emergency with limited success.
Admiral Jaime Vela Eraso, head of Ecuador's Joint Command of the Armed Forces, vowed on Tuesday not to "give in and negotiate" with armed groups, adding that "the future of our country is at stake."
"From this moment on, any terrorist group named in the aforementioned [emergency] decree becomes a military target," he said.
The growing violence is the most extreme test for the new president, who won the second round of elections last year with promises to deal with rising crime./BGNES