Five people died and 16 were injured in an explosion on Sunday in the Ecuadoran port city of Guayaquil. The government of the country said the incident occurred as a part of organized crime, officials said.

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in the country’s second largest city of Guayaquil, where eight houses and two cars were destroyed in the blast.

Lasso warned on Twitter that his year-old government would “not allow organized crime to try to control the country.”

The state of emergency will be in force from Sunday in Guayaquil, and will last for 30 days, said security secretary Diego Ordonez.

Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said the five dead had been identified and none had a criminal record. He blamed the explosion on an “organized criminal mercenary” who had long been involved in the illegal drug trade.