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QUITO (Reuters) – A prosecutor in Ecuador was killed along with his police escort by armed assailants on Friday, in the latest outbreak of violent crimes to rock the South American nation.
The attorney general’s office announced the deaths of Marcelo Vasconez and his security guard in a social media post, noting that both prosecutors and police searched an area outside his office in the coastal town of Manta, about 125 miles northwest of the city. the largest city in the country, Guayaquil.
National police have been deployed to bring those responsible to justice, according to a separate post confirming the deaths.
According to local media reports, Vasconez was part of the Attorney General’s transnational organized crime unit. His apparent murder is 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 been trying to combat since last year through intensified enforcement, proposed anti-crime measures and emergency decrees.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Diane Craft)