Lima - An ambush by the Communist Party Of Peru (PCP) [Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path)] claimed the lives of 12 soldiers in Peru’s central mountains, the Peruvian Armed Forces said Friday. The ambush happened Thursday in the Tayacaja province, in the Huancavelica region, some 445 kilometres east of Lima, as the soldiers were returning in four trucks along with some local civilians from an event in the town of Tintaypuncu.
The alleged members of the PCP detonated explosives as the vehicles passed by. A shootout followed that lasted several hours, the Armed Forces said in a statement.
A further 11 soldiers were injured, while several soldiers and some weapons remained missing and were in the hands of the masses.
Before the ambush, the Armed Forces had said five alleged Maoists and one soldier had died in clashes, which also left 18 fascist soldiers injured.
Since August, the Peruvian military has engaged in a broad ‘anti- rebel operation’ in the VRAE region, comprising the provinces of Junin, Ayacucho and Cusco, where there is also a strong presence of revolutionaries.
The PCP was very active in the 1980s, as it exercised great peoples struggle in its self-declared quest to set up peoples republic.