Officials have framed the string of explosions as backlash to efforts to regain control of Ecuador’s embattled prisons.
Criminal gangs in Ecuador have detonated explosive devices on a bridge, authorities said, causing damage to an inter-city route as the country contends with a wave of violence.
Friday’s bridge explosion was the latest in a string of similar incidents that unfolded over a 48-hour stretch.
National police commander Luis Garcia told the Associated Press news agency that the targeted bridge connected two cities in the coastal province of El Oro.
Authorities have described the spate of explosions as a backlash to the government’s attempts to regain control of correctional facilities from suspected gangs.
As of Friday, almost 60 prison guards and police officers had been held hostage in six prisons across the country, according to the AFP news agency. Later that day, the prison authority estimated that 50 of the hostages were released.
Prison authorities announced the hostage situation on Thursday night, framing it as a response to recent government raids and prisoner transfers meant to undermine the gangs.
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