41 hostage prison workers are freed in Ecuador

More than 40 Ecuador prison officials taken hostage by inmates have been freed, the prisons authority said Saturday, as the country grapples with a brutal campaign of gang terror.

The 24 guards and 17 administrative employees “were released,” the SNAI prisons authority said without providing details, while 133 guards and three employees continue to be held hostage.

The guards and prison workers were taken hostage after President Daniel Noboa announced on Monday a military takedown of criminal groups, sparking a deadly confrontation with narco gangs in the South American nation.

The last 24 hours have seen new violence in Ecuador’s prisons, with one guard killed and another wounded, SNAI said.

There were “armed clashes” at the Machala prison in the southwest, while army and police raided detention centers in six cities to “restore order and normality.”

At least five inmates escaped Friday evening from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a search operation, police sources said. (BSS/AFP)