The Peruvian army has freed 60 people taken hostage by gunmen in a raid on their pipeline construction camp.
Among the people rescued were three police officers and eight foreigners.Police say they believe the kidnappers were members of the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla group.
Defence minister Aurelio Loret de Mola said 60 "armed criminals" had taken part in the raid on the construction camp.
The Argentine petroleum company Techint has been using the camp near Toccate, high in the Andes Mountains some 220 miles south east of Lima, to build a section of pipeline to carry natural gas from Peru's Amazon jungle across the Andes to the Pacific coast.
Mr Omar Quesada, president of the Ayacucho region, said the "apparent subversives" also seized 2,700 sticks of dynamite and demanded $1 million as well as communications equipment.
