Gunmen Dressed as Soldiers Kill Seven in Cold-Blooded Attack
Quito (The Uttam Hindu): At least seven people were killed when gunmen dressed as military personnel opened fire inside a pool hall in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas in northwestern Ecuador. According to local media, three others were injured in the attack. The news agency reported that the attackers arrived at the pool hall located in the Nuevo Amanecer area in a vehicle at around 10:30 pm and started firing indiscriminately at the customers.
This is the second mass shooting at a pool hall in less than a month in the Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province. According to police, seven people were killed in a similar attack on August 17. According to police reports, one of the people killed in Friday's shooting and two injured had criminal records. These records were for crimes such as drug trafficking, criminal gang affiliation, murder and theft.
Photos shared by local media showed several men dressed in black, wearing jackets and hats, arriving at the scene and shooting at people causing them to immediately fall to the ground. Benavides said the vehicle allegedly used by the attackers was found burned in another part of the city.
According to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory, Ecuador recorded 4,619 homicides in the first half of 2025, a 47 percent increase over the same period last year and the highest six-month figure in the country's history.
The country has intensified its fight against drug trafficking gangs since Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of 'internal armed conflict' in January 2024 due to rising cases of violence.
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