Nine people were killed and nearly a dozen injured in an attack on a gold mine, according to authorities in northern Peru on Saturday.
A group of “armed criminals” invaded the Poderosa mine in the Pataz district, “violently confronting the company’s internal security,” according to a statement released by Peru’s interior ministry on social networking site X.
The ministry reports that seven attackers have been located and put into custody, and that authorities have “taken control of the situation.”
Among the dead were two miners and seven security guards who tried to repel the attack.
According to officials, the attackers killed the latter by throwing explosives into the mine shaft.
The ministry reported that 15 people had been hurt, despite later claims by the local media that there had been 23 injuries.
The local press said that the police were still investigating the motive behind the attack.
In May, at least 27 individuals lost their lives in a fire at a gold mine in the southern Peruvian region of Arequipa.Mining is one of the major engines of the nation’s economy, accounting for almost 8% of GDP.
