Lima - An ambush by alleged remnants of the leftist armed group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) claimed the lives of 12 soldiers and seven civilians in Peru's central mountains, the Peruvian Armed Forces said Friday.

The ambush happened Thursday in the Tayacaja province, in the Huancavelica region, some 445 kilometres east of Lima, as the soldiers were returning in four trucks along with some local civilians from an event in the town of Tintaypuncu.

The alleged members of Shining Path detonated explosives as the vehicles passed by. A shootout followed that lasted several hours, the Armed Forces said in a statement.

A further 11 soldiers and an unspecified number of civilians were injured, while several soldiers and some weapons remained missing.

Before the ambush, the Armed Forces had said five alleged rebels and one soldier had died in clashes, which also left 18 soldiers injured.

The military stressed it will persist in efforts to deactivate the remnants of Shining Path, with a view to "consolidating national pacification."

Since August, the Peruvian military has engaged in a broad anti- rebel operation in the VRAE region, comprising the provinces of Junin, Ayacucho and Cusco, where there is also a strong presence of drug traffickers.

Remnants of Shining Path are present in some jungle and Andean areas of Peru.

The group was very active in the 1980s, as it exercised great violence in its self-declared quest to set up a communist regime. However, Shining Path was virtually dismantled following the arrest in 1992 of its leader Abimael Guzman. In recent years it has sought to regain presence. (dpa)