At least nine workers died and 23 others were injured in the attack on a gold mine in northern Peru that led to the arrest of seven attackers, the Interior Ministry said Saturday evening.
“A group of armed criminals stormed into the facilities of the Poderosa mining company in Pataz province and engaged in violent clashes with the company’s security services,” authorities said.
Among the dead were seven guards who tried to repel the attack and two miners who were killed when the attackers threw explosives into the mine tunnel, police said.
During the approximately ten-hour attack, the attackers took four workers hostage, who they then freed as they fled.
Police arrested seven attackers, but an unknown number of them managed to escape before authorities brought the situation back under control.
The prefect of the La Libertad region, where Pataz province is located, Carolina Velasco, told RPP Radio that the attackers had links to illegal gold mines.
Authorities are investigating to determine the reasons for this attack, in which, according to the press, no theft was committed. The preferred route is a lawsuit targeting the Poderosa mining company against illegal mines.