All 71 gas-pipeline workers kidnapped in southeastern Peru were rescued late on Tuesday and were "safe and sound," Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo announced.
Heavily-armed gunmen on Monday seized staff from the Argentine firm Techint, which is building a gas pipeline in Ayacucho department, 600km southeast of Lima, demanding US$1 million in ransom and threatening to kill them if a rescue attempt were made.
In a short, nationally broadcast statement Toledo said the workers -- initially thought to number 60 -- were set free in a lightning operation of "rapid efficiency and great professionalism."
"They are all safe and sound and without a scratch, even the foreigners," Toledo said, adding that no ransom had been paid.
He said remnants of the Shining Path guerrilla group were behind the raid, and that the kidnappers fled into the jungle.
"In Peru there are no people kidnapped, or hostages in the hands of terrorists or gangs of criminals," Toledo said, adding that the episode was a "nightmare that had a successful ending."
Among those abducted were six Colombians and a Chilean.
It was unclear if there was a gun battle during the rescue mission. Toledo said government forces had managed to surround the kidnappers.
Once the mass kidnapping became known, the defense ministry put four Ayacucho provinces under military rule and sent 300 anti-guerrilla experts from the army and police, backed by several helicopter gunships, to the lush mountain jungles where the kidnappers were believed to hide.
Moments before Toledo made his announcement, one of the kidnapped workers told reporters that his colleagues were freed because Techint had paid the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
Juliou Aguilar told Radio Programas del Peru that the hostages were forced to carry food and explosives to the gunmen's camp the night they were kidnapped, but that otherwise they were treated well during their captivity.
Without mentioning the rescue attempt, Aguilar said he regained his freedom when the kidnappers turned him loose.
Ayacucho Governor Omar Quesada also questioned Toledo's version of the rescue mission, telling reporters he doubted very much that there was no shooting or that nobody was arrested.
Techint's headquarters in Lima, meanwhile, continued to be off limits to the press.
RSS