PERU: SHINING PATH BLAMED FOR AMBUSH

UNCLAS LIMA 001809 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PTER SNAR PE SUBJECT: PERU: SHINING PATH BLAMED FOR AMBUSH REF: A. LIMA 1678 ¶B. 07 LIMA 3915 ¶1. (U) Authorities are blaming remnants of the Shining Path ("Sendero" or "SL") terrorist group for a November 16 ambush that killed three police and severely wounded another. The group was traveling in the south-central department of Ayacucho when it came under machine gun fire from an undetermined number of assailants at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time, according to press reports. Interior Minister Remigio Hernani said authorities' preliminary hypothesis was that the attack was in revenge for drug seizures the police had made in the area. ¶2. (U) This most recent attack brings to near 30 the number of police killed in the VRAE in the last three years. It is the first such attack since the mid-October violence that killed or wounded dozens of police and military (ref A). Experts say the area where this attack took place, near the town of Huanta, north of the department's capital of Huamanga,is a principal exit route for cocaine produced in the purimac and Ene Valley (VRAE) to the east. Huanta was also the site of the December 24, 2007 ambush that killed two police (ref B). MCKINLEY