11 ? | Date 10 April 2016 | |
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The Hatun Asha ambush took place on the eve of the 2016 Peruvian general election.
Bands of Shining Path guerrilla fighters armed with long-range rifles and grenades, ambushed a Peruvian military caravan of eight vehicles at Hatun Asha. The ambush began at approximately 5:00 (a.m.), when guerrillas targeted a Peruvian military patrol along a rural road within the Santo Domingo Acobamba district. The vehicles were transporting election material and the 311th battalion soldiers were tasked with guarding polling places in the central Junin region, while the patrol was also to serve in Lima. The ambush left a total of nine government soldiers and two civilian contractors dead as well as five others who escaped wounded. Government helicopters were called in to respond to the incident and hunt down the perpetrators.
The ambush marked the deadliest Shining Path attack in years and a resurgence of the group in order to disrupt the Peruvian general elections.