Security & Strategic Review -June 2007 (ISSN 1741-4202)

PERU | New attack in Huallaga coca region. On 14 June a police convoy was ambushed when returning to Tocache after patrolling an area of the coca-growing region of the Upper Huallaga. Three police officers and a public prosecutor were killed and the other policemen were injured in the attack. Prime minister Jorge del Castillo said the ambush was proof of the "alliance between subversion and drug-trafficking" in the southern part of San Martí­n department.
On 16 December Sendero Luminoso guerrillas had pre-empted the launch of a large-scale government offensive against them [SSR-06-11] in the Apurí­mac-Ene valley, ambushing an antinarcotics police patrol and killing five officers, two government officials and a civilian. The attack took place near Machente, on the rim of the jungle, in Ayacucho department; an area declared in a state of emergency and placed under military control in 2005. On 12 January, Sendero struck again, killing two police officers in another ambush, in the vicinity of Churcampa, Huancavelica, close to the boundary with Ayacucho. It was carried out by an estimated 10 men armed with firearms and grenades: two police officers were killed, while a third escaped unharmed. The attackers made off with the victims' assault rifles.