Gunmen in Ecuador have killed at least 17 people, including a child, in an attack on a bar, the latest incident to underscore the South American nation’s challenges with rising violent crime.

The country’s attorney general said on Monday that more than 40 pieces of ballistic evidence were recovered from the bar in the small town of El Empalme, located about 160 kilometres [100 miles] north of the city of Guayaquil in the coastal province of Guayas.

Images shared by Ecuadorian media show bodies and pools of blood across the floor of the bar.

Ecuador has reeled from a surge in violent crime over the last several years, which experts say is largely driven by criminal groups sparring over territory and lucrative drug trafficking routes.

Police said that groups of gunmen in two trucks ope

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