Ten people were killed early Sunday in a mass shooting in a rural area of Ecuador that is under a state of emergency, police said.

One of the fatalities in the southwest province of El Oro was a totally dismembered body found in a bag, the police commander in the area, Pablo Fajardo, told reporters.

The incident was the latest in a spate of recent bloodshed, much of it linked to drug gang warfare, in a country once seen as a beacon of stability in South America.

Ecuador has become one of the world's most violent nations and a major drug trafficking hub in recent years.

In the latest attack, people who had rented a rural estate were attacked as they slept before dawn Sunday, said Fajardo.

Some of the bodies were found in the residence and others by a nearby road. 

"They were trying to escape this massacre," he said.

No arrests have been made.

Some of the people killed were foreigners, but their nationalities was not immediately known, said Fajardo.  

El Oro is one of six provinces in Ecuador that are under a state of emergency as police try to cope with soaring gang violence.

Under these exceptional measures undertaken by President Daniel Noboa, rights such as freedom of assembly are suspended and police have more leeway to search homes without a warrant.

Ecuador registered a record 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, up from six murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018. 

Noboa's government says its crackdown on gangs allegedly linked to international criminal groups such as Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has reduced the number of murders this year.