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.

The United States has announced a temporary deployment of Air Force personnel to Ecuador’s Manta air base to support joint anti-narcotics operations with the Ecuadorian military. The move comes as Washington intensifies efforts to curb drug trafficking across Latin America, a region increasingly destabilized by cartel violence. The deployment revives a U.S. presence at Manta, which was used until 2009, despite Ecuadorian voters recently rejecting a proposal to lift the ban on foreign military bases.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Quito, the mission is a short-term collaboration aimed at strengthening Ecuador’s intelligence and operational capacity against drug networks. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa welcomed the initiative, saying it would help “identify and destroy trafficking routes” and restore national security. Noboa, seen as a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, faces mounting pressure to address escalating cartel violence.

Ecuador, once one of South America’s safest nations, has become a major transit hub for cocaine from Colombia and Peru. Analysts warn that the U.S. deployment could draw political scrutiny amid rising U.S.-Venezuela tensions and domestic opposition to foreign military involvement.