"Military personnel have been released," the armed forces said in a message to journalists, adding that four soldiers were freed on Monday, without giving details.

Indigenous Ecuadorans have been blocking roads in several provinces over the past week over right-wing President Daniel Noboa's move to slash fuel subsidies, which drove up the price of diesel by 56 percent.

The focal point of the protests has been the northern province of Imbabura, where a 46-year-old Indigenous protester was killed on Sunday.

The country's largest Indigenous rights organization, known by its acronym Conaie, said he was shot three times and accused Noboa of being responsible for his death.

On the same day, the military accused protesters of injuring 12 soldiers and holding 17 others hostage.

Conaie's leader, Marlon Vargas, denied the kidnapping allegations.

A regional representative for the UN Human Rights Office called for "urgent dialogue" between the government and the protesters as well as a "thorough and transparent" investigation into the death of Efrain Fuerez, the demonstrator.

Conaie, which led mass protests that toppled three presidents between 1997 and 2005, has called for an indefinite national strike over the diesel price hike.

Noboa has declared a state of emergency in eight of the country's 24 provinces, and a nighttime curfew in five of them.

He has claimed that Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was behind the demonstrations, and has warned that protesters who break the law will be charged with terrorism and imprisoned for 30 years.