An Ecuadoran judge was fatally shot during a state of emergency that had been declared to combat organized crime, Ecuador's judicial oversight body said.

It called the killing of Lady Pachar a "serious attack against justice and the rule of law in Ecuador" in a statement released Monday.

Pachar was shot that day while traveling by car to a gym in the southwestern city of Machala.

Her two bodyguards were not with her when the incident took place, according to police in Machala, which is the capital of El Oro province bordering Peru.

A police source told AFP on Tuesday that the judge had received threats and was killed in retaliation for the release of gang members.

"The judiciary cannot carry out its work under intimidation or violence," Ecuador's Judicial Council said in a statement.

At least 16 judges or prosecutors have been killed in Ecuador since 2022, according to Human Rights Watch. Last October, a gunman on a motorbike killed a judge in Ecuador while he was walking his children to school.

The Ecuadoran Judges' Association condemned Pachar's murder on Tuesday, writing on social media: "Without independent judges, there is no justice."

Around 70 percent of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through Ecuador.

President Daniel Noboa, one of President Donald Trump's staunchest allies on the continent, has prioritized targeting cocaine traffickers since he came to power in 2023.

He has deployed soldiers on the streets and in prisons, launched dramatic raids on drug strongholds, and declared frequent states of emergency -- measures fiercely criticized by human rights groups. Despite his hardline policies, however, homicides have only increased, ticking up to a record 9,216 violent deaths last year.

U.S. forces help Ecuador target alleged narco-terrorists

American commandos recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal hub operated by an alleged narco-terrorist organization along the country's coast.

The operation, dubbed Lanza Marina, focused on a compound believed to serve as a staging ground for high-speed boats linked to Los Choneros, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 

The two U.S. officials said the American forces worked in advisory roles, assisting and accompanying their Ecuadorian counterparts as they moved against the site, part of a broader effort to curb trafficking networks that rely on fast-moving maritime routes.

In early March, the U.S. and Ecuador launched joint military operations against "designated terrorist organizations" in the South American country