Maoists hit US property in Peru

Powerful explosions damaged the United States Embassy, the residence of the US ambassador, and several US-owned corporations in a series of overnight bombings Aug. 31 in the Peruvian capital.

Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell writes that the incidents are a new twist in a long series of bombings carried on by a radical group in Peru during the past year. Sendero Luminosa, a Maoist group, is blamed for the incidents -- about 500 of them. Damage from earlier bombings totals at least $15 million.

The attacks this week on property belonging to the US government and US corporations, according to Peruvian police authorities, add another million dollars to the damage total.

Most of the front windows and some interior windows of the US Embassy, situated on a downtown avenue, were destroyed. A table and chairs outside the home of Ambassador Edwin Corr were destroyed. In addition, both the Coca-Cola bottling plant and the Carnation milk distributing outlet were severely damaged in separate blasts.