Gunmen stormed a television studio in Ecuador, heavily staffed, and shots and shouting were heard on the program.
The attackers asked the employees to lie down on the floor, and the police then entered the premises of TC Television in Guayaquil and arrested 13 suspects and confiscated their weapons.
A two-month state of emergency is in effect in Ecuador after the escape of a notorious gang leader from a maximum-security prison.
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At least 10 people have been killed since the start of the state of emergency imposed on Monday, January 8.
It is unclear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil is related to the disappearance of Adolfo Macias Villamar, aka Fito, from a prison cell.
Watch the video - we warn you about disturbing scenes
In neighboring Peru, the government ordered an emergency deployment of police forces to the border to prevent the instability from spilling over.
America condemned the "brazen attacks" in Ecuador and announced that it is "working closely" with Ecuadorian President Daniel Nobo and is ready to provide all kinds of assistance.
Ecuador is one of the world's largest exporters of bananas, but it also exports oil, coffee, cocoa, shrimp and fish products.
The rise in violence in the Andean nation, inside and outside its prisons, is linked to a struggle between drug cartels, both foreign and local, to control cocaine routes to the US and Europe.
During the attack on the TV station on Tuesday, a gunman pointed a rifle at the head of one of the employees.
While the attackers were in the studio, cameras were recording, and one woman shouted, "Don't shoot, please, don't shoot," and screams and wails could be heard.
"They have come to kill us, please help us," the employee wrote in a message sent to AFP via the Vocap app.
Publishing the video of the arrest of the suspects, the police announced that the perpetrators will be "punished for terrorist acts".
President Noboa said on Tuesday that there was now an "internal armed conflict" in the country and that he was mobilizing the armed forces to carry out "military operations to neutralize" what he called "transnational organized crime and terrorist organizations".
Noboa, who took office three months ago as the youngest president in the history of the country, promised to deal with the growing crime and wave of violence in prisons and throughout the country.
In the decree, he listed as many as 22 gangs that will be dealt with, including Los Choneros, whose leader is Fito, who has not disappeared from prison and is being sought.
This gang has close ties to Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, which trades drugs around the world and is known for its brutality.
The government also declared a curfew, and the army was sent to prisons to quell riots after Fito's disappearance.
Eight people were killed and three were wounded in gang-related attacks in Guayaquil on Tuesday.
Two police officers were killed by "armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol, the police said.
In the city of Riobamba, nearly 40 inmates, including another convicted drug lord, escaped from prison.
At least seven policemen have been kidnapped, and in a video circulating on social media, three kidnapped policemen can be seen sitting on the ground with guns pointed at their heads, and one of them is forced to read a statement addressed to President Noboa, reports AFP.
"You declared war, you will win war.
"You declared a state of emergency. We declare the police, civilians and soldiers to be war booty," reads the message to the president.
The police ordered the evacuation of the government complex in Quito due to security reasons,
Residents of Quito told Reuters that the city was in chaos after witnessing the attack on a TV station in Guayaquil.
"There is too much nervousness in the city," said Mario Urena.
"People leave work early, there's a lot of traffic jams, there's chaos."
Residents of the city of Cuenca told France Press that they were shocked when they saw armed men break into the TV station.
"In Ecuador, we have never seen something like this, where the television is practically hijacked, and the program starts with shooting," said Francisco Rosas.
"So what does that tell us about security? If they invade television like this, imagine what could happen in stores, restaurants," he added.
In recent years, clashes between convicted members of rival gangs have broken out in the country's prisons, often ending in massacres.
The Choneros are a powerful prison gang believed to be behind many deadly riots and fights in Ecuadorian prisons.
Convicted criminal Fito is believed to have escaped just hours before his scheduled transfer and was tipped off that he would be transferred to another prison.
Two prison guards were detained on suspicion of helping him escape.
His escape is a blow to the government of President Noboa, who was sworn in in November after winning an election marred by the murder of presidential candidate and journalist Fernando Villavicencio.
Villavicensio reported receiving death threats from Fito just days before he was killed while leaving a campaign rally in Quito.
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