Seventeen killed as gunmen attack bar in Ecuador

A 12-year-old boy was among 17 people killed as gunmen fired into a bar in Ecuador, the latest mass shooting in a country ravaged by drug violence.

Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said 14 others were injured in the attack on Sunday night at La Clínica bar in El Empalme.

Police Major Oscar Valencia said the gunmen travelled in two pickup vehicles and “opened fire on everyone” with “pistols and rifles”, before firing on another group as they fled the scene.

He said the child who was killed had ran for over a kilometre before collapsing and dying from gunshot wounds.

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

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

Valencia said witnesses reported the men shouted “active wolves” – a possible reference to a local gang who has vied for control of drug trafficking routes.

Guayas has been on the frontline of worsening violence between drug traffickers.

A week ago, nine people were killed while playing pool in a bar in the tourist resort of Playas, also in the same Guayas region as the latest shooting. Police said those killed in the earlier incident had been “collateral victims” and not the intended targets.

President Daniel Noboa declared war on organised crime last year. Since then, the nation has become one of the most violent in the region, with a homicide rate of 38 per 100,000 people in 2024.

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

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