Peru Guerrilla Ambush Leaves 5 Soldiers Dead, Military Says

Peruvian guerrillas ambushed an army patrol in a jungle area of central Peru yesterday, leaving five soldiers dead.

A night patrol was involved in an “intense” firefight with guerrillas near a counter-terrorist base in Satipo, Junin region that also left five soldiers wounded, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces said in a statement on its website.

The clash followed the Aug. 13 seizure of more than a ton of cocaine and 800 kilograms of chemicals used to produce the drug, which traffickers transport through Satipo with the aid of armed groups, La Republica reported.

Attacks on army patrols have escalated as the government steps up efforts to stem rising cocaine production and capture holdout members of the Shining Path, a Maoist insurgency defeated in the 1990s, which the authorities say are involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and other illicit activities.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at jquigley8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net