Crime
14 killed as rival Ecuadoran inmates fight with guns, explosives
Inmates in Ecuador fought each other with guns and explosives in a riot that left 13 prisoners and a guard dead, police said.
The mayhem was the latest in a series of bloodbaths to engulf gang-ridden, overcrowded prisons in a once-peaceful country now at ground zero of the violent Latin American drug trade.
An unknown number of inmates escaped in the clash between rival gangs, during which another 14 people were injured, a masked police officer identified as commander Colonel William Calle told the Ecuavisa channel.
Thirteen inmates have been recaptured.
Calle said gunfire broke out in the early morning hours, alerting prison guards and police who rushed to that part of the prison in Machala, in southwest Ecuador near the Peruvian border.
One guide was killed as he entered, and others were taken hostage, said the officer.
Calle said the confrontation lasted about 40 minutes, during which inmates “fired guns, threw bombs, and grenades.”
The dead inmates belonged to the rival Los Choneros and Los Lobos gangs, two of the biggest drug trafficking groups in Ecuador.
Police said the violence was the result of “fighting between gangs” in a facility housing double the number of inmates it was designed for.
Organized crime has transformed Ecuador, a country of about 17 million, into one of the most violent nations in the world.
Calle said “control has already been regained” over the prison.
He did not specify the fate of the hostages or how many inmates were on the run.
– ‘Internal armed conflict’ –
Nestled between the globe’s top two cocaine exporters — Colombia and Peru — Ecuador has seen violence spiral in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data.
Gang wars have largely played out inside the country’s prisons, where some 500 inmates have been killed since February 2021, often in gruesome fashion — their bodies dismembered and burnt.
Ecuador’s biggest prison massacre happened in 2021, when over 100 inmates died in clashes in the port of Guayaquil in the southwest.
Prisoners went live on social media to broadcast the violence, showing decapitated and charred bodies.
Last year, gang members took scores of prison guards hostage after the jailbreak of narco boss, Jose Adolfo Macias, aka “Fito,” while allies on the outside detonated bombs and held a television presenter at gunpoint live on air.
President Daniel Noboa declared a “state of internal armed conflict and Fito — the boss of Los Choneros — was recaptured in June.
He had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011 for involvement in organized crime, drug trafficking, and murder, but continued pulling the strings of the criminal underworld from behind bars.
Videos emerged of Fito holding wild parties, some with fireworks, illustrating the lawlessness of Ecuador’s prisons.
Los Choneros has ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan — the world’s largest cocaine exporter — and Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory.
AFP
Crime
More Than 23 Terrorists Killed in Boko Haram-ISWAP Clash in Sambisa (Video)
More than 23 terrorists have been killed in renewed fighting between rival Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) factions in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno State, security sources say.
The latest clashes erupted around the Chingolo axis of Bama Local Government Area after Boko Haram fighters attacked ISWAP members advancing into the area. The fighting forms part of a fresh wave of hostilities that began about two days ago.
A video obtained by Zagazola Makama shows sustained exchanges of fire as both groups tried to consolidate positions and block the other from expanding influence inside the forest.
Preliminary intelligence puts the death toll at more than 23 on both sides since the latest round began, though exact figures for each faction could not be independently verified.
The violence underscores the ongoing rivalry between Boko Haram and ISWAP over territory, access routes, resources and control of fighters in Sambisa Forest and surrounding areas. The confrontation has further weakened both groups and disrupted their activities in a long-standing insurgent stronghold.
Security forces are closely monitoring the situation and exploiting intelligence on the factions’ movements. The military continues to target terrorist concentrations, logistics networks and hideouts across the North-East as part of efforts to degrade the insurgents.
Officials have urged communities near the forest to remain vigilant and report any suspicious movements. The situation remains fluid, with further clashes possible as both sides seek to reposition and reinforce their fighters.
Watch video below:
Crime
10 Out of 15 Abducted NYSC Members Rescued in Kogi (Video)
The Kogi State Police Command has confirmed that 10 of the 15 National Youth Service Corps members abducted by suspected bandits along the Aloma–Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area have been rescued.
Commissioner of Police Naziru Bello Kankarofi said security operatives are combing surrounding forests and intensifying efforts to free the remaining victims.

He dismissed reports that the 10 rescued corps members were among the 11 persons freed during a joint security operation last week, clarifying that those earlier rescued were other travellers caught up in the same kidnapping incident.

The commissioner added that several suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Watch the video below:
Crime
JUST IN: Terrorists kill 4, abduct others in Gorau after boat tragedy
Suspected terrorists killed four people, abducted four others and injured several more in an attack on Gorau town in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Wednesday night.
The attackers invaded the community around 9pm and shot 11 residents, according to the village head, Alhaji Aliyu Magaji Na-Batsami. Seven of those shot survived and were rushed to hospital for treatment, while four died instantly.
The assault came barely six days after a boat accident claimed 65 lives in the same community. Na-Batsami said the terrorists specifically targeted families of the boat mishap victims over the N1 million relief money donated by the Sokoto State Government to each bereaved family. He said the bandits went from house to house searching for the cash.
Bashir Usman Gorau, the member representing Gada/Goronyo Federal Constituency, confirmed the incident and offered condolences to the affected families.
Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer of the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Ahmad Rufai, were unsuccessful as calls were not returned at the time of filing this report.
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