Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa has ordered that criminal gangs be ‘neutralised’ after days of violence culminated in an attack on a television studio.
Masked gunmen broke into public television channel TC’s live studio during a broadcast, forcing staff to the floor.
Police made 13 arrests following the attack, which injured two employees.
At least 10 people have been killed since a 60-day state of emergency began in Ecuador on Monday.
The emergency was declared after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell.
It is unclear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city
In neighboring Peru, the government ordered the immediate deployment of a police force to the border to prevent any instability crossing into the country.
Ecuador is one of the world’s top banana exporters, but also exports oil, coffee, cocoa, shrimps and fish products.
A surge in violence in the Andean nation, inside and outside its prisons, has been linked to fighting between drug cartels, both foreign and local, over control of cocaine routes to the US and Europe.
During Tuesday’s assault at the TV station, one gunman pointed a pump-action shotgun at the head of one of the captives, who was also threatened with a revolver.
