Image copyright AFP Image caption The soldiers are said to have been on a routine mission

An ambush on a military patrol in Paraguay has left at least eight soldiers dead.

The country's interior minister said the soldiers had been on a routine mission when they were attacked with explosives and gunfire.

Francisco de Vargas said it was likely the gunmen were part of the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP).

The attack took place near the village of Arroyito, some 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Asuncion.

Mr de Vargas said the gunmen had placed explosives in the road routinely used by the soldiers.

The EPP is estimated to number between 50 and 150 people.

The group is a Marxist-inspired rebel group which has been active in the impoverished northern region since 2008.

It is thought to have killed about 50 people but says it only targets the country's oligarchy. </s> ASUNCION: Eight Paraguayan soldiers died Saturday in a roadside explosion, the government said, blaming it on a leftist guerrilla group.

Interior Minister Francisco de Vargas said the attack occurred on a rural road near the village of Arroyito, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Asuncion.

“They placed explosives in the road where a patrol routinely passes.

Because of the manner in which it was done, we believe it was an attack by the known criminal group EPP,” he said, using the Spanish acronym for the Paraguayan People’s Army.

De Vargas said eight soldiers died in the attack.

Since the guerrilla group first appeared in 2008, it has killed some 50 people in attacks, the majority of them police, soldiers and cattle raisers, according to police.

The group has been active in the cattle-raising region where Saturday’s explosion occurred. </s> Paraguay says eight troops killed in ambush

ASUNCION, Aug 27 (Reuters) - An ambush in the north of Paraguay killed eight soldiers, authorities said on Saturday, adding that the attack bore the hallmarks of the guerrilla group known as the Paraguayan People's Army.

The Paraguayan People's Army, known locally by its Spanish initials EPP, is a small leftist group formed just over a decade ago.

It is loosely modeled on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has said in recent days that it will lay down its arms after half a century of war.

The security forces who officials said were attacked on Saturday belong to a unit created by the government in 2013 to combat the EPP.

"At about 9am this morning a routine patrol was the object of an attack on a country road in the Arroyito district ... the attackers detonated explosives as the truck passed and then carried out a cowardly armed attack on the wounded soldiers," said the Interior Ministry in a statement.

The government said it is investigating the attack, which took place in a rural part of Concepcion, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of capital Asuncion, in an area where the EPP is known to operate.

The shadowy EPP sometimes leave pamphlets at the site of attacks. Authorities have not said if anything like that has been found.

Interior Minister Francisco de Vargas told a local radio station that the manner of the attack - explosive artifacts by a road - was typical of the EPP. "It is very probable that that is what happened," he said.

The EPP has been blamed by authorities for a string of kidnappings, murders and attacks in the remote north of Paraguay, an area of cattle ranches, poor rural laborers, and illegal marijuana plantations.

In 2013 it carried out an attack in which five people died, its bloodiest to date.

The group is believed to hold three people captive at present: a police agent who has been held for over two years, and two Mennonites, members of a religious sect of European background who have significant dairy farming communities in Paraguay. </s> ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Five soldiers have been killed in an attack by suspected rebels in Paraguay's north, the country's interior minister said Saturday.

Interior Minister Francisco De Vargas said Saturday that the attack occurred in Arroyito, a town about 305 miles (490 kilometers) from Asuncion. He says two more soldiers were gravely wounded.

Authorities suspect that the attack was carried out by a little-known Paraguayan guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People's Army.

It comes just days after Colombia and the largest rebel group in that country reached a peace deal to end the longest running insurgency in Latin America. </s> ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Eight soldiers were killed in an attack in Paraguay’s north by suspected members of a little-known rebels group, authorities said Saturday, just days after Colombian officials and guerrillas reached a peace deal to end the longest running insurgency in Latin America.

Paraguayan Interior Minister Francisco De Vargas reported the first five deaths from the Saturday attack in Arroyito, a town about 305 miles (490 kilometers) from Asuncion. Dr. Bernardo Jacquet, a physician at Hospital Concepcion, located some 55 miles (90 kilometers) from where the attack occurred, later said that the death toll had risen to eight.

Authorities suspect the attack was carried out by a little-known Paraguayan guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People’s Army.

Federico Delfino, the country’s prosecutor for anti-kidnapping efforts, says that the attackers got away with eight M4 carbines, bulletproof vests, and the victims’ personal belongings.

The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on Wednesday announced the finalization of a peace agreement after more than four years of grueling negotiations in Cuba. A cease-fire in the Colombian conflict that lasted more than a half-century will take effect at midnight next Monday.

The Paraguayan government considers members of the Paraguayan People’s Army to be terrorists under an anti-terrorism law.

The Paraguayan People’s Army was blamed last year in the killing of a German couple. Their bodies were found after the rebels abducted the pair from their cattle farm and demanded that the owner of a farm pay $300,000 and give food to the poor. </s> Dozens of suspected Brazilian gangsters blasted into a secure vault containing millions of dollars in southeastern Paraguay on Monday, leaving a policeman dead in what officials called the “robbery of the century.”

Some 50 gunmen with explosives and military-grade weaponry left the city of Ciudad del Este looking like a war zone after a two-hour overnight assault on a security firm and police headquarters, authorities and witnesses said.

A joint Paraguayan-Brazilian police operation against the fleeing assailants on the country’s porous border — near the famous Iguazu waterfalls — killed three suspects and resulted in “at least four arrests,” Paraguay’s interior ministry tweeted.

The tweet showed a photograph of a policeman standing over the body of a man in bloodied camouflage clothing. Other pictures on the ministry’s Twitter page showed what were apparently the getaway cars snared by police and a collection of captured ammunition and flak jackets.

Brazilian authorities confirmed there had been a deadly clash but would not give more details.

“There was an exchange of fire,” a federal police source for the state of Parana told AFP. “There were dead and wounded but we are not giving more information for now. We’re still looking for people.”

Brazilian President Michel Temer promised to support Paraguayan police “with all necessary resources.”

“The Brazilian government expresses solidarity with the victims of this criminal act and, especially, with the relatives of the dead Paraguayan policeman,” he said.

Shocked Paraguayan officials said it was an unprecedented attack for Ciudad del Este, a key trading hub near the borders of Brazil and Argentina in an area linked to drug gangs.

The target of the raid was Prosegur, a firm specializing in safely transporting cash. Far from simply overwhelming security at the facility, the raiders caused multiple diversions around the city, setting vehicles on fire to block roads and detonating explosives near police headquarters.

“The noise rang out around the city like bombs in a war,” one man who witnessed the attack, Antonio del Puerto, told AFP.

Television images from the scene showed the Prosegur building was virtually destroyed, with rocket casings lying around and burned-out vehicles in the streets.

Police reports said the attackers included members of First Capital Command, one of Brazil’s most powerful drug gangs, which is based in Sao Paulo and has fought turf battles in Rio de Janeiro and across the country’s prison system.

Public prosecutor Denise Duarte said the men wore masks and spoke Portuguese, the language of Brazil.

It remained unclear just how much the assailants made off with.

Duarte said the Prosegur vault “was full” at the time of the robbery. Police said the vault can hold up to $40 million in cash but authorities had yet to verify the amount.

The attackers abandoned several vehicles at the site, including armored trucks, one of them mounted with what was described as an anti-aircraft gun.

“The security firm’s premises has been destroyed and the attack caused chaos and terror in the city,” the governor of surrounding Alto Parana state, Justo Zacarias, told reporters.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in Paraguay.”

Paraguay’s police chief, Luis Rojas, said it was “very feasible” that the attackers had help from within the police force.

He said he had contacted security forces in Brazil and Argentina to help catch the robbers.

“I am going to seek the resources and the best men to work to catch these people,” he said. </s> Brazilian gang blamed for heist in which a police officer was killed in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay's second city.

A gang of dozens of armed robbers have stolen several million dollars from a vault in Paraguay, in what local officials are dubbing the "robbery of the century".

Initial estimates placed the cash haul at around $40m, but a spokesman for Prosegur, the private security company targeted in the raid, denied these reports. Authorities did not release any information on how much money was stolen.

The culprits, who police said were from Brazil, killed one police officer during the Monday raid in Ciudad del Este, the South American country's second-largest city.

READ MORE: Brazil's prisons - A battleground in the drug wars

Officials said three civilians were injured in a blaze of gunfire and torched vehicles during the three-hour attack.

Three robbers were killed hours later in an ensuing gun battle with Brazilian police across the border, the Paraguayan Interior Ministry said.

Five members of the gang were arrested in Itaipulandia, 50 kilometres north of Ciudad del Este, the ministry added.

The robbers, armed with assualt rifles, used explosives to gain access to the vault at a cash-storage facility in the Paraguayan border city, which is known for its criminal gang activity.

Up to 80 people may have been involved in the attack, said Arsenio Correa, investigations chief in the city, told Associated Press.

"The criminals used snipers to guarantee the escape and torched more than 10 vehicles to distract the police," he said.

Video footage showed burned armoured cars outside the crumbling remains of the company's building.



Ciudad del Este sits in the "Triple Border" region, where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet and where contraband electronics, drugs and arms flow across porous borders.

Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, a major criminal organisation in Brazil, were suspected of being behind the attack police spokesman Augusto Lima said, according to a report by the German news agency. Armed with assault rifles, the culprits are thought to have made their escape to Brazil by motorboat via the Parana river.

Some of the stolen money was recovered, according to newspaper ABC Color. </s> ASUNCION (Reuters) - A protester was killed in Paraguay and two top government officials were fired after violent clashes overnight sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election.

Activists streamed into Paraguay's capital on Saturday from the landlocked country's interior in a sign the protests may resume after the country's Congress was stormed and set on fire.

Firefighters managed to control the flames on the building's first floor on Friday. Thousands of protesters rioted in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country into the early hours of Saturday.

Reports of damage and injuries proliferated. At Congress on Saturday, charred debris and glass from broken windows littered the steps.

Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police at the headquarters of a liberal youth activist group, the Paraguayan opposition and a prosecutor said.

"We have a commitment to the blood Rodrigo spilled ... we will continue the fight," opposition Senator Miguel Saguier said at a press conference.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement an investigation would be opened into Quintana's death. Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas was later fired by Cartes along with the national police chief, Crispulo Sotelo.

"We are working to identify the people responsible for the events," the new interim interior minister, Lorenzo Lezcano, told a news conference.

Around 200 protesters were detained, police said, and shops and government buildings were vandalized.

Several politicians and journalists were injured, local media reported, and the government said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after also being hit by rubber bullets.

Meetings for the Inter-American Development Bank's (IADB) annual board of governors went ahead as scheduled in a rare high-level international event in Paraguay.

IADB President Luis Alberto Moreno called for peace and dialogue and said Paraguay would continue to be a vital partner of the regional bank.

While Paraguay has long suffered from political uncertainty and violence, the soy- and beef-exporting country has attracted investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors.

"I think this is a very unfortunate event but I do not see that it will have consequences for the economy," Finance Minister Santiago Peña said.

Violent upheaval in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina, which have increasingly looked to Paraguay for business opportunities.

The region is already worried about unrest in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday moved to quell protests and international condemnation. The pro-government Supreme Court revoked its controversial annulment of the opposition-led congress.

Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter on Friday night. He promised the government would do its best to maintain order.

Paraguay's Senate voted on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber.

Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal.

The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez.

A popular referendum would also be required to change the law prohibiting re-election, passed in 1992 after the brutal dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner fell in 1989. </s> The group made off with money from several vaults inside Prosegur, a private security firm in Ciudad del Este, police said.

Ciudad del Este is Paraguay's second-largest city and is along the border with Brazil and Argentina.

Authorities believe the robbers were members of Primer Comando de la Capital, one of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil.

In initial reports, police said the vaults were able to store up to $40 million but neither authorities or the firm confirmed the sum that was taken.

The offices of a private security firm in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay were robbed on April 24 A police officer was killed during Monday's shootout that started around midnight (local time) and lasted for about two hours. Another officer and three bystanders were injured and taken to local hospitals, police said Grenades were set off and more than a dozen vehicles were set on fire as the robbery took place. Police said officers engaged in a gun battle with snipers and others armed with large caliber weapons, dynamite and caltrops. In a building next to the security firm, Alejandro Anisimoff and his family ran and hid when the robbers broke into their home. "We heard non-stop turmoil for an hour. Within that hour, five grenades blew off here. We hid upstairs in one of the bedrooms," Anisimoff, whose home is in the building next to the firm, told CNN en Español. The robbers fled and were able to cross the border into Brazil. A small group was intercepted by Brazilian police in a region called Itaipulandia, about 50 miles from Ciudad del Este, officials said. Three suspects were killed and four arrested during the confrontation, said a spokesperson with Paraguay's Interior Ministry in a news release The building had been under the police radar before, Richard Vera, chief of the Ciudad del Este police homicide department told Argentina's El Pais newspaper. In 2015, they found an L-shaped tunnel connecting the building to a nearby house.
At least eight Paraguayan Army soldiers are killed in an ambush by suspected Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) insurgents, near the village of Arroyito, in northern Paraguay.