Peruvian police captives killed

Nine Peruvian policemen seized by Amazonian indigenous protesters have been killed during a rescue bid which freed 22 others, officials say.

A further seven were still missing after the military moved to free them from protesters angry at plans to drill for oil and gas on ancestral land.

The hostages were taken on Friday during clashes near Bagua which left at least 22 tribesmen and 11 police dead.

A police official accused the protesters of killing the hostages.

Police chief Miguel Hidalgo said that the 38 officers had been captured at a petrol facility they were defending in the area about 1,400 km (870 miles) north of Lima, the capital.

"Of the 38, 22 have been rescued by the army, nine have died at the hands of the natives and seven have disappeared," he told Peruvian radio station RPP.

Speaking before the rescue operation, Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon accused the protesters of a "plot against democracy".

He said the 38 policemen were being held hostage by about 1,000 protesters but the army had them surrounded.

Friday's violence erupted as police tried to dislodge protesters from a major road which they had been blocking.

Two months of protests

Fuel and transport blockades have disrupted Peru's Amazon region for almost two months, the BBC's Dan Collyns reports from Lima.

Special forces had moved in before dawn on Friday to remove the protesters who were sleeping by the side of the road they had been blockading.

Protesters say the police fired tear gas and live ammunition from helicopters in what was by far the most violent clash in the protests so far.

Alberto Pizango, leader of the indigenous movement, said the protests had been peaceful until the police raid.

"In the 21st Century they continue to kill us indigenous people simply for defending life, our sovereignty over our lands and our dignity," he said after Friday's violence.

But Peru's Foreign Minister, Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde, told the BBC there were armed men amongst the demonstrators.

He said the government had given the native people 12m ha (29m acres) out of the total Amazon territory of around 80m ha.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Peruvian government (in Spanish)
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites