Police in Ecuador have arrested six suspects after a car bombing in a commercial area of the capital, Quito, as the South American nation grapples with a surge in violence that authorities say is linked to drug trafficking.
The explosion late on Wednesday did not cause any casualties, police said. The vehicle exploded due to the ignition of “two gas cylinders with fuel, a slow fuse and apparently dynamite sticks”, police investigations director Pablo Ramirez told reporters.
Ramirez said agents arrested six people, among them a Colombian national, several kilometres from the site of the explosion hours after the incident. The suspects have a record of extortion, robbery and murder, he said.
A second vehicle that contained two cylinders of petrol and a slow fuse also exploded nearby at an office of Ecuador’s prisons agency, police said on Thursday morning.
It caused “destruction of the vehicle and damage to the exterior” of the building, but no injuries were reported.
Ecuador has faced months of rising violence, particularly in its prisons, where a series of deadly riots have broken out over what officials say is an escalating battle over lucrative drug trafficking routes.
Credit: aljzeera.com
