One suspect was killed and seven others were arrested during clashes between Ecuadorian troops and armed groups in the country’s Amazon region, the armed forces said Wednesday.
The clashes took place in the Amazonian province of Orellana, in the northeast of the country, during a military operation against illegal mining, the military said.
According to army intelligence, those arrested participated in attacks on military personnel on March 22 in the Barranca Bermeja district of the northern Amazonian province of Sucumbios, which left one soldier dead and four others wounded by gunshot.
The attacks occurred while the military was carrying out surveillance activities as part of a “state of emergency” in force since January to combat crime and “severe internal unrest.”
