Around 60 gas workers have been kidnapped in Peru.The men, who were working on a natural gas pipeline, were taken by 60 heavily-armed men.

Defence Minister Aurelio Loret de Mola said "a group of 60 armed delinquents" was behind the abduction.

The kidnappers are seeking a ransom but there has been no official announcement on whether they belong to the anti-government Maoist Shining Path group.

The group was kidnapped in the Toccate in Ayacucho region, about 400 miles southeast of Lima.

It is the region where the Shining Path rebels rose up in May 1980.

While the group is now considered to have been mostly broken up, it has claimed involvement in isolated violent incidents in that area.

Yahoo News