Shining Path rebels kill soldiers in Peru

Peruvian military officials said Shining Path rebels killed five army officers in the jungle region of Junin, some 300km east of the capital, Lima.

Five other soldiers were wounded in the night time ambush in an area where Shining Path rebels operate.

Remnants of the Maoist movement are now thought to be allied with drug traffickers in Peru's coca-growing heartland.

According to the United States, Peru is now the world's biggest producer of cocaine.

Much of the illegal drug is produced in the Ene-Apurimac valley in southern Peru - known as VRAE - a stronghold of the rebel group.

In a statement, the government says the military and police "have intensified operations in the area to capture terrorists involved in the drug trade".

The Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, started a decade-long insurgency in 1980, in which almost 70,000 people were killed.

The rebel group suffered a severe blow when its leader, Abimael Guzman, was captured in 1992.

The Shining Path is now confined to jungle areas where they continue to stage attacks on the security forces.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has made bringing peace to the VRAE one of his top priorities since coming to office in July 2011.

But his government has been criticised for sending ill-equipped troops to fight.

Earlier this year, in May, Interior Minister Daniel Lozada and Defence Minister Alberto Otarola resigned after a failed security operation against Shining Path rebels led to an outcry.

Both had been criticised after at least nine soldiers and police officers were killed in clashes with the rebels.

There was particular outrage after the father of one dead officer was left to recover his body from the jungle.

When it first launched the internal conflict in Peru in 1980, the Maoist rebels intention was to replace what it saw as bourgeois democracy with "New Democracy".

Widely condemned for its brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, popularly elected officials and the general civilian population, the Shining Path is described by the Peruvian government as a terrorist organization.

The group is on the U.S. Department of State's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and the European Union and Canada likewise describe it as a terrorist organization and prohibit providing funding or other financial support.

Similar to militant groups in Colombia, some factions of Shining Path have allied themselves with drug traffickers and lead highly efficient cocaine-smuggling operations.