Peru's presidential candidates on Sunday vowed to crack down on leftist guerrillas linked to drug traffickers blamed for an attack on the eve of the election runoff which killed five soldiers.

The military on Sunday reported the deaths of two soldiers among six wounded, increasing the toll to five from Saturday's attack blamed on remnants of the once-powerful Shining Path guerrillas.

"It's a direct attack on democracy, we'll fight for peace and tranquility for all Peruvians," said right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, who campaigned in the shadow of her ex-president father now jailed for rights abuses under a 1990s crackdown on the Shining Path and also Tupac Amaru guerrillas.

Humala, a nationalist ex-lieutenant colonel, promised to "firmly" fight the leftist guerrillas, after he took part in the 1990s clampdown.

The war against the Shining Path rebels, in which almost 70,000 died, supposedly ended in 2000.

But rebel factions are working with illegal drug traffickers in remote areas of the Andes amid a thriving Peruvian cocaine trade.

Humala and Fujimori are neck-and-neck in the polarized race for the presidency, while the ex-military man showed a slight lead in some last-minute opinion polls.

Almost 20 million Peruvians vote Sunday for a successor to President Alan Garcia.

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Peru candidates promise to fight guerrillas after attack

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LIMA, June 5, 2011 (AFP) - Peru's presidential candidates on Sunday vowed to crack down on leftist guerrillas linked to drug traffickers blamed for an attack on the eve of the election runoff which killed five soldiers.

The military on Sunday reported the deaths of two soldiers among six wounded, increasing the toll to five from Saturday's attack blamed on remnants of the once-powerful Shining Path guerrillas.

"It's a direct attack on democracy, we'll fight for peace and tranquility for all Peruvians," said right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, who campaigned in the shadow of her ex-president father now jailed for rights abuses under a 1990s crackdown on the Shining Path and also Tupac Amaru guerrillas.

Humala, a nationalist ex-lieutenant colonel, promised to "firmly" fight the leftist guerrillas, after he took part in the 1990s clampdown.

The war against the Shining Path rebels, in which almost 70,000 died, supposedly ended in 2000.

But rebel factions are working with illegal drug traffickers in remote areas of the Andes amid a thriving Peruvian cocaine trade.

Humala and Fujimori are neck-and-neck in the polarized race for the presidency, while the ex-military man showed a slight lead in some last-minute opinion polls.

Almost 20 million Peruvians vote Sunday for a successor to President Alan Garcia.

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