2016 attacks in Santo Domingo de Acobamba and Llochegua took place on the eve of the

2016 Peruvian general election General elections were held in Peru on 10 April 2016 to determine the president, vice-presidents, composition of the Congress of the Republic of Peru and the Peruvian representatives of the Andean Parliament. In the race for the presidency, in ...

, when groups 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 de Acobamba District Santo Domingo de Acobamba District is one of twenty-eight districts of the province Huancayo in Peru. Ethnic groups The people in the district are mainly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent. Quechua is the language which the majority of the p ...

, located in the District of Huancayo. The vehicles were transporting election ballots and related materials and their transport was handled by soldiers of the 311th Battalion of the Peruvian Armed Forces, who 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. Two hours after the attack, a second attack occurred in Mayapo, on the

Llochegua District Llochegua District is one of eight districts of the province Huanta in Peru. Ethnic groups The people in the district are mainly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent. Quechua is the language which the majority of the population (66.25%) learnt ...

in Ayacucho, where one police officer was injured and taken to a hospital in

Pichari Pichari is a town in central Peru, capital of the Pichari District, La Convención Province, Cusco Region. It is located on the east side of the Apurímac River, only about 3 km from the town of Sivia, capital of the Sivia District in Huanta Prov ...

. The government responded with helicopters being called in to respond to the incident to hunt down the perpetrators, at the same time reassuring that elections would still take place, and that nothing had changed regarding them. The attack was condemned by various figures, including then president Ollanta Humala, and prominent politicians like Pedro Pablo Kuczynski,

Alan Garcia Alan may refer to: People * Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, Alejandro Toledo, and

Verónika Mendoza Verónika Fanny Mendoza Frisch (born 9 December 1980) is a Peruvian-French psychologist, educator, and politician. She is the founder and current leader of the New Peru movement. Born in Cuzco to a Peruvian father and French mother, Mendoz ...

. It was also condemned by the Office of the Public Defender and the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

. The ambush marked the deadliest Shining Path attack in years and a resurgence of the group to disrupt the Peruvian general elections.

References

{{coord missing, Peru 2016 in Peru 2016 murders in Peru April 2016 crimes in South America Internal conflict in Peru Shining Path Terrorist incidents in Peru Terrorist incidents in Peru in the 2010s History of Junín Region