US special forces bolster Ecuadoran anti-narco ops

US troops are carrying out joint military operations with Ecuadoran forces against narco-trafficking gangs near the Colombian border, Ecuadoran officials have confirmed.

Ecuador's right-wing President Daniel Noboa is one of US President Donald Trump's closest allies in Latin America.

US forces have for months been supporting his military against the drug traffickers that have turned what was once one of South America's safest countries into one of its deadliest.

"We are with the 7th (Special Forces) Group of the US Army...we are working together in the fight against narcoterrorism," Juan Jaramillo, governor of violence-plagued Esmeraldas province, said Wednesday.

He declined to say how many US troops were deployed in the area or since when.

Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo on Thursday announce the arrival of two warships and three US Black Hawk helicopters to control parts of the coast, including the port of Manta, a trafficking hotspot.

The operations are being conducted under the auspices of Trump's Shield of the Americas anti-cartel alliance.

The coastal province of Esmeraldas has seen a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion rackets carried out by drug trafficking groups that ship cocaine from neighboring Colombia and Peru through Ecuador's ports to world markets.