According to Ecuador, 57 guards and police officials who had been held prisoner in several prisons have been freed

The release of 50 security personnel and seven police officers held hostage for more than a day was announced by Ecuadorian authorities on Friday. The government claimed that criminal gangs were reacting to its attempts to retake control of several sizable prisons in the South American nation.

The 57 law enforcement officers were imprisoned in six different jails, and the nation's correctional system, the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty, claimed in a statement that they are safe but omitted to say how they were released.

The latest in a string of attacks this week, criminal gangs in Ecuador used explosives early on Friday to destroy a bridge. The explosion caused no injuries.

In response to efforts by authorities to seize control of numerous penitentiaries through the relocation of convicts, the seizure of firearms, and other measures, officials have labeled the violent acts as the work of criminal gangs with members in jails.

Consuelo Orellana, the governor of the province of Azuay, announced early on Friday that 44 hostages held at a jail in the capital city of Cuenca had been freed. Later, according to the nation's correctional system, all 57 had been released.