FOUR soldiers and two members of the Shining Path guerrilla group died yesterday in a clash in Peru’s largest coca-growing area, the army said in a statement.

The fighting broke out at dawn as soldiers were attacked while on patrol in south-central Andes – a region where armed forces for two decades have been fighting drug trafficking gangs and the remnants of the Shining Path group.

The soldiers had been carrying out “territorial control” operations, said the statement, adding three other officers were wounded and taken to hospital.

Peru is the world’s second largest producer of cocaine after Colombia. 

Last year, some 95,000ha of coca leaf, the raw material for the drug, were planted, according to monitoring data from Peruvian authorities.

The Shining Path is a Maoist rebel group, which emerged in the 1980s seeking to overthrow Peru’s government. Almost all of its leaders are now dead or imprisoned, with only a few hundred members operating in remote areas.

Two decades of fighting between the army and guerrillas left some 70,000 dead, according to the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. – AFP, September 5, 2023.