QUITO, Sept 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The director of a prison in the Ecuadoran Amazon was killed in an armed attack on Tuesday and two officers were wounded, the Latin American country's prison management service said.

"Three administrative officials of the Center for Deprivation of Liberty... were victims of an armed attack" on the road to Coca city, the SNAI prisons agency said on WhatsApp.

It added that Alex Guevara, director of the prison in Sucumbios province, "unfortunately died due to the attack".

Two other workers who were with him were wounded.

Local media published an image of the vehicle the officials were traveling in, showing several bullet holes in the windshield.

SNAI said the police are investigating the crime.

Last week two prison officers were killed on their way to work in a jail in southwestern Guayaquil, one of Ecuador's most violent cities where criminal gangs are fighting over drug trafficking routes.

Ecuador registered a record 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, up from a rate of six murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018.

The government of President Daniel Noboa claims that its offensive against organized crime has reduced homicides.

Between January and September this year, 4,236 murders were reported, while in the same period in 2023, there were 5,112, according to the interior ministry.