AT least eight people have been killed and three others injured after gunmen opened fire inside a nightclub in Ecuador.

Armed thugs on motorbikes and pickup trucks swarmed the club after midnight and began shooting people drinking outside the venue in Santa Lucia.

Law enforcement arrived on the scene following an emergency call.

They found “several people wounded and seven bodies,” police colonel Javier Chango said.

Among the dead was the nightclub owner Jorge Urquizo, who was the brother of Santa Lucia’s mayor.

Police found 800 cartridge cases at the scene.

After the attack, the gunmen fled along an “unknown route,” Chango said.

The local police picked up a man driving a truck who was carrying a revolver, but were not able to determine whether he was involved in the attack.

Authorities said they have yet to work out a motive for the shooting.

Once peaceful, Ecuador has seen violence erupt in recent years as gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

More than 70 per cent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data.

In 2023, the nation experienced over 8,000 deaths, an increase eight times higher than in 2018, surpassing nations like Mexico and Colombia, which are well-known for their cartel violence.

And a new record for the most killings in a single month was broken in January, with 781 killings. 

Following several riots where gangs seized control of prisons, rival groups engaged in intense conflicts, using brutal, medieval-like executions and hanging bodies from bridges to establish dominance and intimidate their adversaries. 

Although the government and military have tried to dismantle the cartels, Ecuador continues to be the leading global exporter of cocaine.

Many of the shootings are carried out in a display of dominance, terrifying rivals and keeping local residents subdued. 

Gangs such as Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos, and Los Choneros have used horrific methods like removing the hearts of captured foes and broadcasting the murders on social media platforms.

Other victims may find themselves being hanged from bridges, their limp bodies serving as a warning to anyone entering the cartel’s territory.