Six people, including a two-year-old girl, were killed and three others injured when multiple gunmen opened fire on a crowded boardwalk near a popular beach in Puerto López, a tourist town on Ecuador’s southwestern coast. Police confirmed the incident on Sunday, saying the attackers arrived in a van and on two motorcycles before fleeing the scene.

Local media reported that this was the third deadly attack in Puerto López over the weekend, bringing the total number of deaths to nine. Police have not yet identified or arrested the shooters, but initial investigations suggest the violence may have stemmed from internal disputes among criminal groups.

Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru—two of the world’s top cocaine exporters—has seen escalating gang violence linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels. Despite President Daniel Noboa’s strict security policies, killings in public areas have become frequent. The Geneva-based Organized Crime Observatory reported a record homicide rate of 52 per 100,000 people by the end of the year.