Death toll rises to 9 in Lima bombings

The death toll in two powerful car bombs near the US Embassy in Lima, Peru has risen to nine. The blasts come three days ahead of a visit by US President George W. Bush.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo cut short a visit to Monterrey, Mexico where he was due to take part in a UN conference against poverty, and was due back in Peru today, said Raul Diez Canseco, his vice-president

Fernando Rospigliosi, the Interior Minister, said: "We don't know who carried out the attack...we found no pamphlets or literature claiming or showing the source of the attack."

However, he said authorities were not ruling out the possibility that the attack could have been directed from outside of the country. "I don't rule out a national or international origin (of the bombing), he said, "but Dircote (Anti-terrorism Intelligence Administration) did report that eventually there could be some sort of attack to discredit president Bush's visit."

The US President is due in Lima on Saturday. Security ahead of his visit has been tightened in the Peruvian capital and all leave for the city's 22 000 police officers has been cancelled.

Diez Canseco told reporters that the government would not be intimidated by the rebirth of terrorism in the country. He added that he had called an emergency overnight meeting of the cabinet.

The notorious Shining Path guerilla movement was responsible for 25 000 deaths and $30 billion in damage between 1980 and 1982. - AFP