Two Peruvian army troops and four presumed narco-senderistas—remnant Shining Path guerilla fighters turned drug gangsters—were killed Aug. 26 in a shoot-out at San Antonio de Carrizales, Huancayo province, Junin region, in the coca-producing zone dubbed the VRAE, for the Apurimac-Ene River Valley. The confrontation brings to 30 the number of soldiers killed in the VRAE since October 2008.

The skirmish began when an army patrol crossed paths with a column of some 80 senderistas. The army operation, dubbed "Wanka," was aimed at capturing Jorge Quispe Palomino AKA "Raul", who is belived to have been leading the column. "Raul" was detained in 1999, but escaped while being used as a hostage by the SIN intelligence agency in an effort to smoke out Sendero guerillas near Pangoa. His brother Victor Quispe Palomino AKA "José" is said to be the leader of Sendero Luminoso's Regional Central Committee in the VRAE. Troops in the operation reported discovering a Sendero camp, where they destroyed 14 chozas of coca base—as well as quantities of rice, yucca and other food crops. (La Republica, Nuevo Ojo, Lima, Aug. 28)

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