A former beauty queen was killed in a blaze of gunfire as bloody gang violence continues to grip Ecuador.
Armed attackers killed at least 14 civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, in two separate attacks on Sunday in coastal areas of the South American nation.
Members of an unknown gang, travelling in two pickup trucks, shot at civilians with pistols and rifles, in the latest murder spree to hit the state which is being ravaged by drug cartel violence.
An initial attack, in the southwestern town of El Empalme, saw 12 dead and three injured, the town's police chief Major Oscar Valencia said.
The same attackers later fired at a second group, killing two more people as they shot indiscriminately.
