IED event in Guayaquil, Avenida Francisco de Orellana area, Ecuador on Mon 20th March 2023

A loud explosion echoed over the sound of traffic on Avenida Francisco de Orellana at 18:37 on 20 March. Suddenly, on the first floor of the car park of a shopping centre in the area, a tyre flew nearly five metres into the air. This was due to the fact that a car bomb was reported at the aforementioned site after 14:00. The premises were closed for several hours, waiting for the authorities to arrive and verify the situation, in addition to evacuating the place. "Now you can't go out to the shopping centres. We are very afraid of what is happening. We can only walk with God," said Cecilia Macas, who was passing through the area and saw the controlled detonation of the explosive device. The authorities did not give details at the scene. However, EXPRESO learned that it was a dark blue car, which was left on the ground floor of the car park and was modified in the wing to leave the explosive device there, and after the detonation, the shopping centre reopened its doors to continue with its work.