QUITO, Jan 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - At least 10 people, including two law enforcement officers, have been killed in violence linked to criminal gangs in Ecuador, police said Tuesday, in what the country's president described as "an internal armed conflict."

Eight people were dead and three injured in a series of attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, a local police chief said at a press conference. In a separate statement posted on X, police also said that two officers were "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol.