Air force colonel shot dead by hitmen while driving to military ceremony in Ecuador

Hitmen gunned down an Ecuadoran air force colonel Friday in a city hard hit by drug crime that has turned the once-peaceful South American country into one of the most violent, authorities said.

Police said Colonel Porfirio Cedeño, who led an air force special operations unit, was the passenger in a van taking him to a military ceremony.

More than 20 shots were fired and the driver was hit in the leg in the attack in the city of Guayaquil, said police official Santiago Tuston.