"Details of the incident are still emerging, but informal mining operations are a frequent source of conflict in South America, as criminal groups jockey for control. The latest incident took place near the town of Vijus, in the department of La Libertad in northwestern Peru. Police reported that 13 miners had been killed in the same region last May. That incident prompted a stern response from local authorities, including the 30-day suspension of mining activities and a night-time curfew."
"In the wake of Wednesday's incident, police have arrested two people, and an investigation is under way. The news agency Reuters cited local prosecutors as saying that 11 shell casings had been recovered at the scene of the attack. A mining company, Poderosa, also told the media that its security personnel had heard the gunfire and, after approaching the crime scene, discovered that three people were dead."
An attack around an hour before midnight on New Year's Eve targeted an informal mine near Vijus in La Libertad, northern Peru, killing at least three people and leaving seven missing. Pataz Mayor Aldo Marino said the final death toll could reach 15 as more bodies are recovered. Informal mining operations in Pataz have fueled violent competition between criminals and rural miners; 13 miners were killed in the region last May. Police have arrested two suspects and opened an investigation after recovering 11 shell casings. A mining company, Poderosa, reported that its security personnel heard gunfire and found three bodies.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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