By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters). QUITO (Reuters). Officials claimed that more than a 1000 personnel were involved in a joint police-military operation to break into Guayaquil prison, the capital of Ecuador.

Nearby is the Penitenciaria Del Litoral prison. This prison houses the Regional Guayas prison. It was where the worst prison violence in Colombia occurred earlier in the week.

Ecuador is experiencing violence at its prisons that house 39,000 inmates. Officials are blaming the fight for control among criminal groups.

In prison violence claimed the lives of 79 and 22 victims in February, respectively.

“As a consequence of these actions firearms munitions, and prohibited items were seized,” Ecuador’s SNAI prison authorities said about the operation involving military personnel on Twitter (NYSE:).

Tannya Varela police commander stated that they found four injured prisoners in the jail when they went to enter it.

Varela stated to journalists that they were shot when we entered the highest security wings. We entered the maximum security wings and treated all four of them. “They were taken by the military to hospital and evacuated.”

According to her, seven other members of the crime gang were arrested by police. They are accused of trying to take weapons and uniforms that look like those used to guard the prison’s cells.

The suspects were taken into custody during Guayaquil’s meeting. They may have intended to target guards and inmates, she stated.