(Reuters) - Ecuador's public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the prisons agency(SNAI) for its potential role in the killing of six suspects involved in the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, the agency announced via social media.

Ecuadorean authorities said they initiated the investigation because SNAI did not carry out a pending order to transfer the inmates for security reasons.

Villavicencio, a prominent journalist who exposed corruption and organized crime, was gunned down while leaving a campaign event in August, bringing the country's rising violence to the spotlight this campaign season. Police arrested six people that day, while other suspects were later arrested.

On Friday, six of the suspects, who were identified by authorities as Colombian nationals, were killed in a prison in Guayaquil.

Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso met with his security cabinet on Saturday to "address the crisis in the penitentiary system," according to his official social media account. The government has previously promised to identify those responsible for Villavicencio's murder.

The Colombian government condemned the killings and offered its support to Ecuadorean investigators in a statement on Saturday.

The second round run-off vote will be held on Oct. 15, ending an election cycle marred by the South American country's rising violence.

(Reporting by Anna-Catherine Brigida, Editing by Franklin Paul)