QUITO (Reuters) -At least 17 people were killed in a prison riot in Ecuador’s northern city of Esmeraldas, near the border with Colombia, the country’s prison agency said on Thursday.

Authorities are carrying out the corresponding investigations to clarify what happened, the agency added.

The riot follows another deadly outbreak earlier this week in a prison in southern Ecuador, where 14 people were killed.

Ecuador has faced a wave of prison violence in recent years, with hundreds of inmates killed.

President Daniel Noboa’s government, which has pledged to crack down on crime, blames the unrest on gangs competing for territory and control inside the prison system.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Natallia Siniawski, Editing by Sarah Morland)

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