MISSIONARY BLAMES MILITARY IN PERU, CIA FOR KIN'S DEATHS

A Baptist missionary said he blames the Peruvian air force and the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency for the attack by a Peruvian military jet that
killed his wife and daughter.

Jim Bowers, who survived the attack along with his 6-year-old son, said he
has no hostility toward the pilots and thinks they were just following orders.

"If they were told to fire, they had no choice," Bowers said Sunday. "What
good would there be to holding something against them? What would it gain?"

He told a group of worshippers at King's Way Baptist Church that he
struggles with believing that the attack in northeastern Peru was God's will.

Bowers said the tragedy has refocused his attention on the serving the Lord.

Veronica Bowers, 35, and 7-month-old Charity were killed April 20 when
their single-engine Cessna was attacked by Peruvian jet pilots who thought
the plane was carrying contraband drugs.

Jim and Veronica Bowers met at Piedmont Baptist in the mid-1980s and
graduated in 1993. Later that year, they left for Peru, where they preached
in villages along the Amazon River, traveling in a houseboat.