Ecuador gang violence escalates as five severed heads discovered on tourist beach in Puerto Lopez, highlighting country's record homicide rate amid military crackdown.

Images on social media showed five heads tied with ropes on two wooden posts at a popular whale watching destination in Ecuador's southwest.

The heads were suspended between two wooden poles and tied to a length of green rope on a beach in the Pacific resort of Puerto Lopez.

Five human heads were found hanging from ropes on a bech in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador, as a wave of gang-related violence has swept over the country in the past four years.