Ecuador prison director shot dead as she drove with coworker

GUAYAQUIL,  Ecuador

The director of Ecuador's biggest prison was killed in an armed attack on Thursday, the second such killing in under two weeks in the Latin American country, the SNAI prison agency said.

Maria Daniela Icaza (pictured above), director of the infamous Litoral penitentiary in the port city Guayaquil died of injuries sustained "following an armed attack on the road" leading to the nearby town of Daule, the agency said.

She died while being taken to hospital, the agency said in a WhatsApp message, adding that an official from the prison service who was travelling with her was injured in the incident.

"We convey our deepest condolences," the agency wrote on social media.

Ecuador's prisons are among the most dangerous in the world, and many have been taken over by drug gangs.