Lima - Two Peruvian soldiers were killed when members of the Maoist Shining Path rebel group shot down down an air force helicopter, the Ministry of Defence in Lima said Thursday. The incident happened over a densely forested area on Wednesday, some 400 kilometres east of the capital, as the aircraft was engaged on a mission to rescue soldiers injured in an earlier firefight.
One further soldier was injured, the ministry said.
The conflict between the Shining Path and the government began in 1980, but largely ended in 1992 with the capture of the Shining Path's leader, Abimael Guzman. Nearly 70,000 people were killed or disappeared during the conflict, 54 per cent at the hands of the Shining Path, a government-appointed commission said in a 2003 report.
In recent months clashes between Shining Path and the Peruvian army have increased, as the latter have deployed more troops in the Ene and Apurimac River Valley region to combat drug trafficking, in which the Shining Path is now heavily involved.
