Nine people were killed on Tuesday in Ecuador for about thirty armed attackers who arrived in boats and cars at a port for artisanal fishermen in the northern province of emeraldsborder with Colombiaauthorities reported.
The prosecutor’s office confirmed on Twitter “the removal of 7 corpses from the Artisanal Fishing Port of the canton (Esmeraldas) and 2 more in a nearby health center” that were transferred to the forensic center.
Videos broadcast on social networks show the population pulling bodies out of the water while other bloody corpses lie on the ground in Esmeraldas, capital of the province of the same name located about 300 kilometers north of Quito.
The attack occurred around 09:00 am (local time), when more than 1,500 people were in the port of this town on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, explained the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata.
The identity of the deceased is unknown, although local media indicate that the majority were fishermen.
“We are going to capture them!” assured the president, Guillermo Lassoa Twitter.
“Reprisal”
“Thirty heavily armed people (…) generate these shots in a criminal, delinquent manner,” Minister Zapata said in an interview with the Ecuavisa channel.
According to the head of the portfolio, the attack occurred because the fishermen “they preferred the safety” of one of the organized gangs “and in retaliation” a rival group opened fire.
Los attackers They arrived at the port in two boats and an unknown number of cars, according to the official version.
One of the taxis in which they were traveling was abandoned at the port, the Prosecutor’s Office said in another tweet.
The Ecuadorian Navy announced on Twitter a deployment of troops to “intensify #military operations by air, sea and land” and “locate” those responsible. (AFP)
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