<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Ten people were killed and ten injured, including children, in two shootings Sunday in Guayaquil, the Ecuadoran port city in the grips of a bloody war between drug trafficking gangs, officials said.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shootings took place in two poor neighborhoods of the city that has seen at least three similar attacks since April.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first shooting killed four people and injured 10 -- including children aged 2, 13 and 14 -- in Siete Lagos in the south of the city, the prosecutor's office said on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The second occurred in the north of Guayaquil, where six people were killed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Such attacks have become more frequent in Ecuador, especially in Guayaquil, as rival gangs ramp up the fight for drug markets and routes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Home to three million of Ecuador's 18 million people, the port city has become a launch point for shipments of drugs to the United States and Europe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, the world's top producers of cocaine. The country also, conveniently for cartels, uses the US dollar as its currency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 420 prisoners have died in vicious fighting between criminal groups in Ecuadoran prisons since February 2021, many beheaded or burned alive. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>