FIVE PNP OFFICERS KILLED IN AYACUCHO AMBUSH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 005203 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015 TAGS: PTER PGOV SNAR PE SUBJECT: FIVE PNP OFFICERS KILLED IN AYACUCHO AMBUSH REF: A. LIMA 5031 ¶B. LIMA 4985 Classified By: PolCouns Alexander Margulies Reason: 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) On the morning of 12/5 between 15 and 20 armed individuals ambushed and attacked two DIRANDRO vehicles en route from the new NAS-funded DIRANDRO base at Palma Pampa to San Francisco, both in the VRAE (reftels). Five police officers were killed, and a prosecutor and one other police officer were injured. The vehicles were transporting the prosecutor and a detained narcotrafficking suspect who remains in custody. The ambush took place at the Cantute bridge about 20 minutes outside of San Francisco. The PNP officers killed in the attack were based at Palma Pampa. According to Post sources, remnants of Sendero Luminoso (SL) were involved in the ambush. ¶2. (SBU) Wounded, surviving Special Operations (GOES) officer Loja Tafur said the attackers hid in ditches on the side of the road and in the hill above the road. The first vehicle carrying the detainee had accelerated well ahead of the second vehicle, which suffered all the casualties; the first vehicle was never engaged. The driver of the second vehicle was shot by a sniper causing the vehicle to careen out of control; three PNP were thrown out of the back of the truck. The attack continued with heavy automatic weapon fire from high ground. Tafur was severely wounded in his right hand and rolled under the vehicle. The prosecutor was covered by a wounded GOES officer, William Quispe, who received several shots to his back sparing the prosecutor's life; Quispe died on site from his wounds. The two survivors in the second vehicle feigned death and heard attackers on the ground receiving radio orders to collect the victims' weapons. Tafur estimates some of the attackers collecting weapons were 13 - 14 years old. According to Tafur the ambush was improvised; he says the attackers likely were in the area, saw the first vehicle pass, and seized the opportunity to attack the second vehicle. ¶3. (U) NAS provided helicopter airlift support to evacuate the wounded, now in Lima, and to transport senior PNP officers from Lima to the scene. The Prosecutor is in a hospital with fragment wounds. Tafur is in a PNP hospital; his thumb was amputated and a specialist is working to save his hand. Minister of Interior, Romulo Pizarro, told press that 50 special operations PNP officers were sent to the area to find the perpetrators, who he described as "narcoterrorists." We understand about 200 police will be moved to the area to track the perpetrators. ¶4. (U) The attack on the officers was reported widely and made front page news on most dailies. Leading dailies "El Comercio" and "La Republica" drew links between the 12/5 attacks and SL operating in the area; the "El Comercio" headline identified the attackers as "narcosenderistas." ¶5. (SBU) Palma Pampa is in the heart of the Apurimac/Ene Valley (VRAE),a primary source zone for coca cultivation and cocaine production and an area where SL is becoming increasingly involved in the narcotics trade (Ref B). The Palma Pampa base serves to establish a police presence in the area and is successfully increasing interdiction operations in the area. (Note: On 12/4 Poloff and media representatives accompanied DIRANDRO officers from the base and the prosecutor on an interdiction operation in the nearby community of Comumpiari; a prosecutor is present for all interdiction operations. Six coca maceration pits were identified and destroyed in the operation. The community was vocally hostile and threw rocks at the police and participants. Palma Pampa base commander Enrique Blanco referred to Comumpiari as a "narco-community" where the residents work together to process coca paste and police are not welcome. Blanco said similar communities fill the VRAE. End Note.) ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The attack and murder of DIRANDRO and GOES police has galvanized the PNP into action. Embassy is providing transport and other support. The influence of armed narcotraffickers in the region is evident. Though the identities of the perpetrators are unknown, there is clear evidence of increasing linkages between SL terrorist remnants, narcotraffickers, and coca growers in the area. End Comment. STRUBLE