Guerrilla attack kills four before Peru election

Lima / AFP

Three soldiers and a civilian were killed, and seven others wounded, in two attacks by guerrillas in the jungles of central Peru, on the eve of presidential elections.
Authorities blamed remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group, which was largely crushed in the 1990s but still has members hiding in the jungle.
The three soldiers and a driver were killed as they were taking forces to guard voting stations in the central Junin region.
“Special forces and supporting aircraft were sent to take control of the area and remove the military personnel that still remains in place,” the Joint Command of the Armed Forces said in a statement.
The guerrillas first struck at Hatun Asha, located in a jungle zone considered a stronghold of the guerrillas and a major coca-producing area. In a second attack, they targeted a military ship on the Apurimac River in the south, wounding two soldiers, authorities said. President Ollanta Humala condemned the “insane” violence. “Terrorism and those who collude with it have no place in our society or in our family,” said Humala. Mariano Cucho, the head of the National Office of Electoral Processes, insisted that “this attack will not tarnish the elections.”