Seventeen killed as a bar to attack artillery in Ecuador

A 12-year-old boy was among 17 people killed when artillerymen fired at a bar in Ecuador, the last mass shooting in a country devastated by drug violence.

Ecuador General Prosecutor’s Office said 14 others were injured in the attack on Sunday night at La Clínica Bar in El Empalm.

Police Major Oscar Valencia said the gunners were traveling in two pickups and “opened fire on all” with “guns and rifles” before firing another group while fleding from the scene.

He said the child who was killed had fled over a kilometer before he collapsed and died of firearms.

Images from the scene, published in the local media, showed several bodies on the street covered with white sheets.

Investigators said they had found at least 40 pieces of ballistic evidence at the site.

Valencia said witnesses reported that men were calling “active wolves” – a possible reference to a local band that took advantage of control of drug trafficking routes.

Guis was on the first line of worsening of drug traffickers.

A week ago, Nine people were killed during a pool game At a bar in the Playas Tourist Resort, also in the same Guiss region as the most firing. Police said that killed in the earlier incident were “victims of collateral” and not the intended goals.

President Daniel Noboa declared war against organized crime last year. Since then, the nation has become one of the most complicated in the region, with the degree of killings of 38 per 100,000 people in 2024.

In the first five months of 2025, Ecuador recorded 4 051 killings, according to official data.

According to official sources, nearly three quarters of the world’s cocaine production passes through Ecuador.