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One person has been killed and a number of other others injured after a vehicle exploded outside a shopping centre in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
A ‘loud bang’ was heard at around 6pm local time yesterday, with surveillance footage showing a parked van on fire.
Video filmed by a taxi driver and shared by Metro Ecuador captured onlookers filming the vehicle on fire when it exploded.
Fire officials confirmed one person died within the blast on José Orrantia Avenue and ‘several’ were injured but didn’t give a selected number.
Samantha Vera, a health care provider in the realm, was just ‘metres away’ from the inferno.
Vera, 40, told AFP: ‘We ran away out of fear that something else might occur. We’re in shock.’
Claudia Quimi, who owns a salon, said the glass windows shook from the ‘horrifying blast’.
A second vehicle with explosives was found nearby, however it didn’t detonate and has been neutralised.
Town’s security has urged people to avoid the realm and announced that nearby roads have been closed to permit emergency services through.
It added: ‘For safety reasons, a preventive evacuation of nearby buildings was carried out, and controlled detonations are being executed under specialised protocols.’
Interior Minister John Reimberg said on X: ‘This just isn’t a handcrafted device, it’s a professionally made item by criminal groups that wish to cause chaos within the country.
‘The National Police is working across the clock to counter the threat and find those answerable for this terrorist act.’
Guayas provincial governor Humberto Plaza told reporters: ‘We’ll seek out those that perpetrated this act of terrorism.
‘We’ll capture them, and so they will likely be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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