Watch: Armed men invade live TV broadcast in Ecuador

Ecuadorian soldiers patrol the territory of the Ecuadorian television channel TC. Photo: MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images

In a WhatsApp group of journalists, TC reporters asked for help, asking colleagues to alert the police and emergency services.

“They want to kill us,” wrote one of them.

Explosions Local witnesses said gunfire could be heard outside the studio.

Police say they have sent special tactical units to the TV station in the north of the city.

People are being helped to leave the premises of the Ecuadorian television channel TC. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

The country has entered a 60-day state of emergency. Ecuador on Monday after a convicted gang leader escaped from a prison cell.

President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday declared the country in an “internal armed conflict” and ordered the army to conduct military operations against Ecuador's powerful drug gangs.

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“I signed a decree declaring an internal armed conflict” and “I ordered the armed forces to conduct military operations to neutralize these groups,” Mr. Noboa wrote on social networks. after gangsters declared “war” on security forces and civilians.