Maoist Shining Path insurgents ambushed and killed three Peruvian policemen in a remote jungle area known for guerrilla activity, officials said Monday. The officers were driving Sunday evening in the Huallaga Valley about 205 miles northwest of Lima when more than 70 rebels sprayed their SUV with semiautomatic weapons fire, police said. The officers were shot to death as they fled the vehicle, which was then looted and set ablaze, police said.Sunday's attack was the first on police in the former guerrilla stronghold since June, when two officers and a marine died in a similar ambush. Terrorism experts say "Comrade Artemio," the last original Shining Path leader still at large, commands about 150 guerrillas in the mountainous jungle region. Artemio had eschewed violence since 2001, but last April threatened to renew attacks if the government did not negotiate an amnesty for his contingent and jailed Shining Path leaders. A red flag bearing images of a hammer and sickle was left behind and phrases associated with the Shining Path were scrawled on the road in red paint, including: "We sought a political solution to the problems arising from the people's war."
Former Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi told Radioprogramas radio Monday that the ambush had all the hallmarks of Artemio, who he said has joined forces with the cocaine trade in Huallaga Valley, a prime producer of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.