PERUVIANS SHOOT DOWN U.S. PLANE MISSIONARY, BABY DIE IN ERRANT ATTACK

LIMA, Peru -- A Peruvian air force jet shot down a plane carrying American
missionaries in Peru's Amazon jungle region Friday, killing a mother and
her infant child and wounding the pilot, U.S. and missionary officials said.

"The Peruvian pilot mistook it for an airplane transporting contraband
drugs," Benjamin Ziff told the Associated Press.

The Rev. E.C. Haskell, spokesman for the Association of Baptists for World
Evangelism, said the group's plane was attacked as it flew from the
Peruvian border to the city of Iquitos.

Missionary Veronica "Roni" Bowers, 35, of Muskegon, Mich. and her
6-month-old adopted daughter, Charity, were both killed and veteran
missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson of Morgantown, Pa. was wounded, he said.

Donaldson was able to make an emergency landing in the Amazon River, said
Haskell.

Also on board and unhurt were Bowers' husband, Jim, 37, and their
8-year-old son Cory, said Haskell, speaking from the group's office in
Harrisburg, Pa.

Mario Justo, chief of the Iquitos airport, said that a single-engine plane
belonging to the missionary group crashed at 11:20 a.m. in the Amazon.
Iquitos is 625 miles northeast of Lima.

Donaldson's wife, Bobbi, told the AP that her husband was shot in the leg
and lost control of the plane, which was in flames, but managed to guide
the aircraft into the Amazon River, where it flipped over.

After the crash, the occupants sat on the pontoons for about 45 minutes
before being rescued by some Peruvians in a dugout canoe, Haskell said.

"All the natives there knew them; it wasn't like they were strangers,"
Haskell said. They were taken to a clinic.

Veronica Bowers was holding her daughter on her lap when a bullet struck
her in the back, killing both her and the child, Bobbi Donaldson said in a
telephone interview from Pebas, near the crash site, about 100 miles east
of Iquitos.

"So far as we know now, earlier today, a Peruvian air force aircraft shot
down a private airplane carrying several American missionaries," said a
State Department official.

"Apparently the Peruvian pilot mistook it for an airplane that was
transporting contraband drugs. We deeply regret this tragedy and are in the
process of determining the loss of life and injury to the passengers and
crew on the plane," the official said.

A Peruvian Air Force spokesman said the Air Force shot down the plane
because the missionary pilot had failed to heed warnings to land. Earlier,
the Air Force denied it had approached the plane.

"After carrying out international identification and interception procedure
... which the pilot ignored ... the Peruvian Air Force plane opened fire as
a last resort," the Ministry of Defense said.

Reuters contributed to this story.