Ecuadorian prison officer injured in armed attack

Quito, September 20 (IANS): Two people, including an official from Ecuador's prison administration agency SNAI, were injured when armed assailants opened fire on their vehicle in downtown Quito, the SNAI said.

“People were injured in this attack and had to be taken to urgent medical treatment,” the statement said. The national police are investigating the incident, the Xinhua news agency reported.

“We categorically reject any act of violence or attempts at intimidation against officials of our institution,” the agency said in a statement.

According to a local television news broadcast, the shooting occurred before 8:00 a.m. local time on a main road with heavy traffic.

The incident occurred just seven days after a similar attack killed Maria Icaza, the director of Ecuador's largest prison, the Litoral Penitentiary in the southwestern city of Guayaquil.

Previously, on September 12, the director of Ecuador's largest prison was killed in an armed attack. It was the second murder of this kind in less than two weeks in the Latin American country, the prison authority SNAI said.

Maria Daniela Icaza, head of the notorious Litoral prison in the port city of Guayaquil, died of injuries sustained “after an armed attack on the road” leading to the nearby town of Daule, the agency said.