LIMA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Peru's government on Tuesday declared an emergency along its northern border with Ecuador due to a surge of violence caused by criminal gangs in the neighboring country.
Prime Minister Alberto Otarola announced that the emergency declaration would entail the deployment of an unspecified number of army troops to support police forces.
Earlier in the day, a group of masked gunmen broke into a TV studio during a broadcast in the southern Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and took its staff hostage.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared that his country is in a state of internal armed conflict and issued a decree classifying 22 gangs as terrorist organizations.
"I signed a decree declaring an internal armed conflict and identified the following transnational organized criminal groups as terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors," he said on X, formerly Twitter.
According to La Republica newspaper, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte called an emergency meeting earlier on Tuesday to take urgent measures to prevent thugs who escaped from Ecuador's prisons from entering Peru. ■
