Peruvian police officers killed in rebel ambush poorly armed - daily.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of report by Maria Elena Hidalgo and Elias Navarro: "Police had only one rifle with which to defend themselves from the narcotraffickers", published by Peruvian newspaper La Republica website on 18 December; subheadings as published

Despite the dangerousness of the zone where National Coca Enterprise (Enaco) employees, aided by police, intercepted illegal shipments of coca leaf and chemical products used in drug manufacturing, the police force's firepower was not increased.

Sources from the National Police in Huamanga told La Republica that the police officers killed were armed with only one G-3 rifle and four Beretta pistols, while the terrorists attacked with Kalashnikov (AKM), Galil and FAL rifles. The difference in fire power was obviously unequal and fatal.

The meagre armaments carried by the ambushed police officers show that appropriate preventive measures were not taken and for that reason they were overpowered by the terrorists.

The sources indicated that it should also be noted that stepping up the pressure on drug trafficking would generate a reaction from Shining Path members living off the "quotas" they collect from drug-trafficking organizations.

General …