One dead after vehicle explodes outside Ecuador shopping mall

At least one person was killed when a pick-up truck exploded outside a shopping mall in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, on Tuesday evening local time.

Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg said police had found explosive devices inside the remains of the truck.

Police also carried out a controlled blast after finding a second car containing explosives parked nearby, according Reimberg.

The minister blamed criminal gangs for the deadly attack.

“The devices were professionally manufactured by criminal groups aiming to sow chaos,” he wrote on X.

The explosive-laden truck had been parked outside the city’s main shopping centre, Mall del Sol, in the north of the port city. Several luxury hotels are located nearby.

Witnesses described seeing the vehicle go up in flames before it exploded minutes later, sending pieces of metal flying through the vicinity.

A taxi driver who had been parked near the truck was killed and several other bystanders were injured.

Reimberg said police found a total of four explosive devices.

In photos he posted on X, an old mobile phone could be seen as well as wires and what appeared to be plastic tubing.

The blast comes days after police defused a gas cylinder packed with explosives hidden inside a car parked outside the Litoral prison in Guayaquil.

The mayor of Guayaquil, Aquiles Álvarez, linked Tuesday’s blast to previous attempted attacks.

He told local media that the aim of the “terrorist group” behind them was to try and force the authorities into releasing jailed members of their group.

Litoral prison is home to some of Ecuador’s most feared jail gangs who, from behind bars, control much of the drug trafficking which is fuelling the country’s sky-high murder and crime wave.

The government of President Daniel Noboa has declared the country in a state of “internal armed conflict” and has designated several gangs as terrorist organisations.