Ecuador vows to crush gangs

QUITO: Ecuador's armed forces were engaged in a brutal standoff with organized crime Thursday, deploying more than 22,400 soldiers to put down a campaign of terror waged by gangs that has claimed 16 lives.

With an armed presence on the streets, patrols by land, sea and air, random body and car searches, prison raids, and the enforcement of a curfew, the government of President Daniel Noboa has vowed not to yield in its «war» with 22 criminal gangs.

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