At least 18 were killed, including 12 soldiers, when Sendero Luminoso guerillas ambushed a Peruvian army convoy late Oct. 9, military sources say. A child was among six civilians killed in the ambush on four trucks transporting troops and civilians to Cochabamba Grande base in Huancavelica region. Authorities said the convoy was passing through the Apurimac-Ene River Valley (VRAE) in the area of Tintaypunco, Tayacaja province, when the guerillas detonated a roadside bomb and then strafed the stricken vehicles with machine-gun fire. Those troops not killed in the blast fought the guerillas for hours before they retreated back into the jungle in what was the deadliest clash between Sendero and the security forces in a decade.

Calling his corrupt underlings "rats," Peru's President Alan García has dismissed his entire cabinet in what the local media have dubbed the "Petrogate" scandal, and appointed a popular left-wing regional governor as prime minister. Allegations of kickbacks in the granting of concessions to Norwegian company Discover Petroleum arose after local TV aired a series of audio tapes in which two members of García's APRA party discussed the apparent payments. The company denies it paid any bribes. The government has called a special commission to investigate all oil concessions granted since 2006.

Under emergency powers announced by President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's Supreme Judicial Council has opened an investigation into striking court workers who refuse to return to work. Striking workers could face termination under the state of emergency. The court workers union Asonal Judicial pledges to continue the strike, which has paralyzed Colombia's courts for over 40 days. According to police reports, 2,700 people charged with homicide, robbery, drug trafficking and other crimes have been released as a consequence of the strike, which affects 90% of Colombia's 40,000 court workers.

Mexico's powerful drug cartels are buying cocaine directly from Colombia's main guerilla group, Colombian deputy defense minister Sergio Jaramillo charged Oct. 7 at an OAS anti-crime conference in Mexico City. Jaramillo said that Oliver Solarte, finance chief of the FARC's 48th Front, is the guerilla organization's key contact with the Mexican drug lords. "We are particularly worried about the strengthening connections between Mexican cartels and the FARC," Jaramillo said. "The Mexican cartels are buying directly from the FARC." He declined to provide more details, saying he did not want to compromise intelligence reports. (AP, Oct. 10)

Bernardino Terracciano, the Naples man who played himself in the award-winning film Gomorra about the Neapolitan mob is among seven men arrested Oct. 12 on organized crime charges. Terracciano—the burly, menacing local boss "Zi' Bernardino" (Uncle Bernardino) in Matteo Garrone's film—is accused of extortion and criminal association, police said. Gomorra, which uses local people from Naples' dangerous suburbs as well as actors, won second place at the Cannes Film Festival this year and is Italy's entry for best foreign-language film at the forthcoming Oscars. It is based on an expose of the Camorra by the Naples based writer Roberto Saviano, who is under police protection.

Georgia has formally protested the continuing presence of Russian troops in South Ossetia's Akhalgori district and Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, both areas held by Georgian forces until the August war. Under the ceasefire terms, Russia is to withdraw to positions it held before the fighting broke out, but Moscow and Tbilisi are at odds as to whether this includes territories within the breakaway enclaves. "Akhalgori is within South Ossetia's borders, so the [ceasefire] plan does not cover it," Russian news agencies quoted Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is calling on India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the ethnic violence that left 55 dead and more than 200,000 displaced in his state over the past week. "The culprits involved in the clashes must be identified and punished," he said. The clashes, centered around Udalguri district, were between the Bodo tribal people and Bangladeshi settlers, who fought with guns, bows and arrows, machetes and spears. But at least 24 of the dead were shot by police who fired into the crowds.

Attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul have forced nearly 1,000 Christians, or some 500 families, to flee their homes over the past week, the governor of the northern Ninawa (Nineveh) province reports. Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula Oct. 11 said most have taken shelter in schools, churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in the northern and eastern fringes of Ninawa. Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako said Iraq's Christians are facing a campaign of "liquidation" and called on the US military to do more to protect them.