A resurgence of violence by Shining Path rebels in Peru this week raised questions on whether the Maoist group, thought to have been nearly eradicated, is staging a comeback. Shining Path fighters ambushed an army patrol Thursday, killing five soldiers and two civilians and wounding several others, the group’s bloodiest attack on the army since the killing of five soldiers in a 1999 helicopter ambush. Authorities are doubly concerned because Thursday’s attack was on a patrol sent out specifically to root out what were thought to be remnants of the Shining Path. It occurred in village of Matucana in Ayacucho province, 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Lima. The dead included four officers and one enlisted man. The two civilians were part of a local self-defense force acting as guides for the patrol, tracking a column of some 50 Shining Path guerrillas who had been recruiting in a nearby village earlier in the week. Immediately after the attack, Vice President Raul Diez Canseco, during a visit to Chile, acknowledged an apparent resurgence of Shining Path activity in his country, but stressed Peru remained safe. Full Story
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