Ecuador orders military operations against drug gangs

On Tuesday, gangsters kidnapped police officers and set off explosives in several cities in response to a 60-day state of emergency and nighttime curfew declared by Ecuadoran President Noboa.

The President ordered military operations against the country's powerful criminal groups after hooded gunmen stormed a television studio and gangsters threatened to execute security forces and civilians. Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.