7 Killed in Attack in Ecuador

Seven citizens were found lifeless, shot multiple times, in Nobol, in the province of Guayas, Ecuador, police said in a statement sent to the media.

The memo added that among the seven bodies, two were identified as children, and two had criminal records, according to the Mexican newspaper Excélsior.

The massacre occurred last Friday, and authorities took several hours to locate all the bodies because they were scattered in different areas of the province.

According to police sources, local media allege that the apparent motive for the massacre is revenge.

Nobol is located about 42 kilometers from the city of Guayaquil, the crime hub in Ecuador, which has been plagued in recent years by gangs operating alongside drug trafficking cartels.

Massacres have become increasingly common in the country, as mafia leaders use its Pacific Ocean ports to export cocaine.

In late March, eight people were shot dead in Guayaquil, five of them tourists who had been previously abducted on the beach.

According to recent reports, the murder rate in Ecuador has risen from 6 per 100,000 people in 2018 to a record high of 43 in 2023.

In January, President Daniel Noboa announced that the country had entered into an armed internal conflict after a violent attack by criminal gangs left twenty dead.