LIMA - Peru's government Tuesday announced it would immediately deploy a police task force to its border with Ecuador to reinforce security amid escalating violence in the neighboring country.

The government called for the "immediate dispatch" of a contingent of the National Police's Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes).

Meanwhile, local media reported that in the border region of Tumbes, the number of police officers has been increased to 400, while some 50 Diroes task force members are on their way to the 1,500-km border.

Citizens were passing through the international border crossing between Peru and Ecuador "under strict security measures", said the official Peruvian news agency Andina.

Peru's government on Tuesday declared an emergency along its northern border with Ecuador due to a surge of violence caused by criminal gangs in the neighboring country.

President of the Congress Alejandro Soto urged the Peruvian government to take urgent measures along the border to prevent similar incidents.

Prime Minister Alberto Otarola announced that the emergency declaration would entail the deployment of an unspecified number of army troops to support police forces.

Earlier in the day, a group of masked gunmen broke into a TV studio during a broadcast in the southern Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and took its staff hostage.