Quito, Oct 8 (IANS): Another prisoner implicated in the killing of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was found dead in a Quito prison, taking the total number of murdered inmates involved in the politician's assassination to seven.

National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) said the prisoner, identified as Jose M., was killed in El Inca Prison, and investigations are currently being coordinated with the Attorney General's Office.

This follows SNAI's confirmation on Friday of the murder of six Colombian prisoners linked to Villavicencio's death in Guayaquil's Litoral Penitentiary, Ecuador's largest prison, Xinhua news agency reported.

Villavicencio was killed in an armed attack on August 9, after a political rally in Quito for the early presidential elections on August 20.

The inmates' death occurred when the result of the preliminary investigation into Villavicencio case is expected to be released soon.

As a result, President Guillermo Lasso returned home from New York and suspended an official visit to the Republic of Korea.

Early Saturday morning, Lasso led a meeting of the Security Cabinet at the Government Palace in Quito to discuss the crisis in the prison system.