Armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the studio of a public television station on Tuesday in Ecuador's drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil, taking hostage several journalists and staff members, live footage showed.

"Don't shoot, please don't shoot," one woman shouted as gunshots rang out while the attackers, carrying rifles and grenades, forced the terrified crew of the TC broadcaster onto the ground.

"National Police units in Quito and Guayaquil have been alerted about this criminal act and are already on the scene," police said in a brief statement to journalists.

The live broadcast continued uninterrupted, although lights went off on set.

About 30 minutes after the gunmen appeared, police could be seen entering.

"Police, police," called out one man in uniform. "We have a wounded colleague," a man replied.

"Please, they came in to kill us. God don't let this happen. The criminals are on air," one of the journalists told AFP in a WhatsApp message.

The incident came as Ecuador's new president, 36-year-old Daniel Noboa, grappled with a security nightmare after the escape from prison of one of the country's most high-profile gangsters, Jose Adolfo Macias, known as "Fito."

Noboa declared a 60-day countrywide state of emergency Monday, including in Ecuador's notoriously violent prisons, and imposed a nighttime curfew.

In response, gangsters took several police officers hostage and released a chilling video in which one of them was forced to read out a message addressed to Noboa.

"You declared war, you will get war," the terrified officer reads. "You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war."

Noboa was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country -- once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

'Neutralise' criminal gangs

On Tuesday the president gave orders to "neutralise" criminal gangs, after at least 10 people were killed in a series of attacks.

He ordered military operations to "neutralise" criminal gangs after gangsters declared war following the prison escape Sunday of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses.

Eight people were killed and three were wounded in attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, and two officers were "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday evening.

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control. 

'Return peace to all Ecuadorans'

A manhunt is underway for Fito, who had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

The 44-year-old is believed to have escaped just hours before police arrived to inspect the Guayaquil prison where he was held.

On Tuesday, officials said another narco boss - Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico - also escaped since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

Unrest has broken out at several penitentiaries, and on Tuesday the SNAI prisons authority said 125 guards and 14 administrative officers were being held by inmates in five cities.

Unverified videos circulating on social media purported to show captives armed with knives executing at least two guards.

The SNAI has not commented on the images.

The security forces in turn have sent out videos of numerous prison raids since Sunday, with hundreds of inmates amassed in courtyards in their underwear, hands on their heads.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to "not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans."

Drug violence has taken a heavy toll on the South American country since it became a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022 and a record 220 tons of drugs were seized last year.

Since February 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burnt alive.