Ecuador prosecutor gunned down as violent crime wave persists

QUITO (Reuters) - A criminal prosecutor in Ecuador was killed by armed assailants on Friday along with his police escort, in the latest eruption of violent crime to shake the South American nation.

The attorney general's office announced the death of Marcelo Vasconez and his guard in a post on social media, noting that both prosecutors and police were searching an area outside his office in the coastal city of Manta, located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of the country's largest city Guayaquil.