Six dead in Ecuador gang shooting

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador: Six people were killed and six wounded on Monday in an apparent gang shootout in Guayaquil, a port city in the grips of a wave of violence perpetrated by drug traffickers, police said.

Police Colonel Marcelo Castillo told AFP Guayaquil´s second mass shooting in June appeared to have been a settling of scores between rival gangs. The six injured are all in stable condition.

Two weeks ago, a policeman and four other people were killed and eight injured when three men opened fire in a house in Guayaquil in the southwest of the South American country.

These kinds of attacks have become ever-more frequent in Ecuador, especially in Guayaquil, as rival gangs fight for markets and drug routes in the streets and prison, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.