LIMA - Two Peruvian soldiers were killed on Wednesday when the Shining Path rebels attacked a military helicopter in the southeast of the country, the government forces said in a statement.

The soldiers' helicopter, along with several others, was on duty patrolling a valley when it was attacked, said the statement issued by the Armed Forces Joint Command.

The victims were Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Vasquez Silva and Captain Alberto Vidarte Campos, said the statement.

Shining Path, founded by Abimael Guzman in the 1970's, is a major anti-government guerrilla group in Peru. It was blamed for most of the 69,000 deaths and abductions which occurred during the horrific period of political violence, between 1980 and 2000, according to Peruvian authorities.