Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has declared a state of emergency in six provinces in northern Peru after Shining Path guerrillas killed eight police officers in an ambush.
The state of emergency is scheduled to last 60 days.
Police say the officers were killed on Tuesday when they were attacked by rebels near the town of Aucayacu.
The Shining Path is a Maoist group that conducted a guerrilla war against the Peruvian government throughout the 1980s, killing tens of thousands of people. Its founder, Abimael Guzman, was captured and tried in 1992 and violence declined considerably.
However, remaining members have persisted in carrying out smaller attacks than in the past, primarily in the coca-producing areas of rural Peru.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
