In Ecuador, gunmen disguised as soldiers opened fire inside a pool hall in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province, killing at least seven people and wounding three others. The vehicle allegedly used by the attackers was found burned in another part of the city. One of those killed and two of the wounded in the shooting had criminal records for drug trafficking, criminal association, murder and theft.

 

 

It was the second mass shooting in a pool hall in the province in less than a month. On the 17th of last month, seven people were killed in a similar attack.

 

 

According to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory, Ecuador recorded over four thousand six hundred homicides in the first half of this year, a 47 per cent jump from the same period last year and the highest six-month toll in its history.

 

 

The country has stepped up its fight against drug trafficking gangs since Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in January last year due to an escalation of violence.