Five inmates found dead at Ecuador's biggest prison

Five inmates were found dead Friday at Ecuador's biggest prison, the SNAI prison agency said, a day after fatal clashes between rival gangs erupted in the same port city of Guayaquil.

The bodies of the inmates were discovered "during security checks" at the infamous Litoral penitentiary in Guayaquil, SNAI said.

Investigators are probing the deaths, and autopsies are underway, it added.

Ecuador's prisons are among the most dangerous in the world, and many have been taken over by drug gangs.

Litoral was the site of Ecuador's worst prison massacre, which saw 119 inmates killed in September 2021.

On Thursday, 22 people were killed and six injured in Guayaquil in clashes between rival factions of one of the country's biggest criminal gangs, Los Tiguerones.

A police source told AFP the deaths at Litoral "could be a case of retaliation."

Following the fierce gunfights in Guayaquil, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa announced on Friday an amnesty for security forces fighting drug cartels in the city.

He urged the security forces- some already accused of human rights abuses during an increasingly brutal drug war -- to "act with determination and without fear of reprisal."

Noboa, in power since 2023, faces a presidential runoff election on April 13 that will decide whether he gets a new term.

He has campaigned on his crackdown on drug cartels that have turned what was once one of Latin America's most peaceful countries into one of its most violent.

Noboa's rival Gonzalez, a lawyer, has criticized human rights abuses allegedly committed by the security forces in the name of the war on cartels and vowed a more restrained approach.