Ecuador prosecutor gunned down as violent crime wave persists

A criminal prosecutor in Ecuador was killed by armed assailants on Friday along with his police escort, in the latest eruption of violent crime to shake the South American nation.

The attorney general's office announced the death of Marcelo Vasconez and his guard in a post on social media, noting that both prosecutors and police were searching an area outside his office in the coastal city of Manta, located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of the country's largest city Guayaquil.

The national police have been deployed to bring those responsible to justice, according to a separate post confirming the deaths.

Vasconez served as part of the attorney general's transnational organized crime unit, according to local media reports. His apparent assassination marks at least the ninth local prosecutor killed since 2019.

The targeted killings coincide with the growth of the country's powerful organized crime groups, which President Daniel Noboa has sought to confront through stepped up enforcement, proposed crime-fighting measures as well as emergency edicts since last year.