Pickup truck explodes on busy street in Ecuador

QUITO Ecuador AP A pickup truck exploded on a busy shopping street in the port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador on Tuesday evening killing one person and injuring two others in what the governor called an intentional attack Maj Jorge Montanero of the Guayaquil fire department stated local television station Ecuavisa that the person killed was a cab driver who was nearby He added that police were inspecting all vehicles in the surrounding area as well We re evacuating all of the building as a precaution Montanero disclosed Sought if it could have been a car bomb he announced they would have to wait for police to investigate We don t know but a normal car doesn t blow up like that he reported There were a series of car bombing in Ecuador in as violence surged in the weeks after a presidential candidate was assassinated In March a motorcycle exploded outside Ecuador s largest prison on the outskirts of Guayaquil killing a prison guard The bomb was attributed to a criminal configuration Other motorcycle explosions last year in Quito caused minor damage but no deaths Police did not forthwith comment on the explosion But Gov Humberto Plaza of Guayas province whose capital is Guayaquil stated Tuesday s explosion was terrorism plain and simple and promised that police would find those responsible We re going to grab them and they re going to pay and these people are going to be prosecuted for terrorism he reported The area is packed with restaurants and stores several of whose windows were broken by the explosion Source