In the worst loss for the Peruvian military in four years, Shining Path rebels ambushed a patrol of army special forces and marines in rugged mountainous jungle, killing seven, officials said Friday. The Thursday afternoon attack, which comes a month after guerrillas kidnapped scores of pipeline workers in the same general area, indicates a resurgence in activity by the Shining Path, which people now say is now better-armed than the military. The Shining Path, which follows a hardcore communist ideology and seeks to overthrow the government, launched its armed conflict in 1980 after a decade of planning. By the early 1990s the group almost brought the Peruvian government to its knees, assassinating mayors and peasants unwilling to support them in the countryside and waging a car-bomb campaign in the capital, Lima. The violence dropped significantly with the capture of founder Abimael Guzman in 1992. But the rebel faction operating in the area of Thursday’s attack apparently has made a break from Guzman, who is seeking a negotiated settlement that includes amnesty for hundreds of imprisoned rebels. Full Story
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