Hitmen on Friday gunned down an Ecuadorian colonel in charge of anti-drug operations in a city hard-hit by the narcotics crime that has plunged this once-peaceful South American country into violence.
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Police said Colonel Porfirio Cedeno, who led an air force special operations unit, was shot multiple times in the city of Guayaquil while travelling to a military ceremony.
More than 20 shots were fired at the pickup truck transporting him, and the driver was hit in the leg, said police official Santiago Tuston.
Cedeno was travelling from Guayaquil to Manta about three hours away. Both cities have been caught up in fighting between rival drug gangs that has seen homicide rates in Ecuador soar.
The truck ended up stalled in the middle of the road with shattered windows, its body riddled with bullet holes, Agence France-Presse observed.
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Police recovered more than 20 casings at the scene. Investigators believed the gunmen were also travelling by car.
Cedeno had headed a special unit focused on combating drug trafficking, contract killings and extortion in the city of Duran neighbouring Guayaquil.