Dhaka, March 8 -- Rival factions of an Ecuadoran drug trafficking gang fought Thursday in the violent port city of Guayaquil, leaving at least 22 people dead, officials said.

Another three people were wounded in a series of internecine clashes in the city, the local police said in a statement as it increased an earlier toll of 12 dead.

A police source told AFP the gunfights involved opposing factions of a gang called Los Tigerones, one of the most powerful in this formerly peaceful country.

Ecuador is home to an estimated 20 criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, wreaking havoc in a country of 18million squeezed between the world's biggest cocaine producers, Peru andColombia.

In recent years, Ecuador ha...