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

After the initial attack, police chief of the southwestern town of El Empalme, major Oscar Valencia, told reporters: “We have approximately 12 people dead and three wounded.”

The same attackers fired at a second group, killing two more people, he added.

Valencia said attackers travelling in two pickup trucks shot at the victims with “pistols and rifles”.

“They opened fire on everyone,” he said, adding that a 12-year-old boy was among the deceased.

Bodies were left lying in a covered entrance of a liquor store, while dozens of relatives sat weeping on the sidewalk across the street.

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

The shooting comes as Ecuador experiences a surge in violence.

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

A week ago, nine people were killed while playing pool in a bar in the tourist resort of General Villamil, also in the southwest.

Once considered a bastion of peace in Latin America, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis by the expansion of transnational cartels that use its ports to ship drugs to the US and Europe.

According to official sources, 73% of the world’s cocaine production passes through Ecuador.

In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tons of drugs, primarily cocaine, compared to 221 tonnes in 2023.