Ecuador declares war on armed gangs after TV station attacked on air
Ecuador's president 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 of the boss of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, or Fito as he is better known.
President Noboa said on Tuesday that an "internal armed conflict" now existed in the country and he was mobilising the armed forces to carry out "military operations to neutralise" what he called "transnational organised crime, terrorist organisations and belligerent non-state actors".
In neighbouring Peru, the government ordered the immediate deployment of a police force to the border to prevent any instability spilling over into the country.
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.
A woman could be heard pleading, "Don't shoot, please don't shoot," AFP news agency reports, while a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain.
State of emergency
President Noboa's emergency declaration responded to a wave of recent jail riots and escapes from prisons and other acts of violence blamed by authorities on criminal gangs.
His decree listed the Choneros (named after the town of Chone in Manabi Province) as well as 21 other gangs.
The order built on the state of emergency declared on Monday, which ordains a nightly curfew in an attempt to curb violence following Fito's escape. Security forces have been trying to re-establish order in at least six jails where riots broke out on Monday.
Soldiers patrolled the metro in Quito on Tuesday.
In recent years, the country's prisons have been plagued by violent feuds between jailed members of rival gangs, often resulting in multiple massacres of inmates.
The Choneros are a powerful prison gang thought to be behind many of the deadly riots and prison fights which have erupted in Ecuador's jails over recent years.
Fito is thought to have absconded just hours before his planned transfer. Two prison guards have been detained on suspicion of helping him escape.
His escape is also a blow to the government of President Noboa, who was sworn in in November after winning an election tarnished by the assassination of presidential candidate and journalist Fernando Villavicencio.
Villavicencio had reported receiving death threats from Fito just days before he was shot dead while leaving a campaign rally in Quito.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67930452
