Military officials in Peru say rebels have killed five army officers in the jungle region of Junin, some 300km (190 miles) east of the capital, Lima.
Five other soldiers were wounded in the night time ambush in an area where Shining Path rebels operate.
Remnants of the Maoist movement are now thought to be allied with drug traffickers in Peru’s coca-growing heartland.
The United States say Peru is now the world’s biggest producer of cocaine.
Much of the illegal drug is produced in the Ene-Apurimac valley in southern Peru - known as VRAE - a stronghold of the rebel group.