CNN
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Ecuador is on heightened security amid an intensifying wave of violence that has left multiple police officers dead and forced president Guillermo Lasso to declare a 45-day state of emergency in provinces Guayas and Esmeraldas.

National Security Secretary Diego Ordoñez vowed Thursday that the government would take back control of Ecuador’s penitentiaries – sites of repeated bloodshed – and implement other anti-crime operations, following an emergency meeting of the council.

At least five Ecuadorean police officers have been killed in explosive attacks, Fausto Salinas, Ecuador’s chief of police, announced Tuesday during a press conference.

Salinas said there were three detonations recorded in the city of Esmeraldas on the same day: two car bombings and one in the surroundings of the Community Police Unit. He added that the wave of attacks began in response to…