PERUVIAN AIR FORCE PLANE SHOOTS DOWN PRIVATE PLANE

LIMA, Peru -- A Peruvian air force plane has shot down a private plane
carrying several American missionaries in Peru's Amazon jungle region, a
U.S. embassy spokesman said today.

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

The embassy could not yet confirm the extent of loss of life or injury to
the plane's passengers or crew, he added.

Radioprogramas, Peru's most authoritative radio station, said an American
woman and her 7-month old daughter traveling on the plane were killed in
the crash, which occurred Friday morning near the jungle town of Pebas,
about 700 miles northeast of Lima.

The two bodies were brought to the city morgue of Iquitos, the capital of
Amazonas province and 100 miles from Pebas, Radioprogramas reported.

"We do not have more details. For now we are working on confirming the
identities of the corpses," Iquitos prosecutor Pedro Rios told
Radioprogramas. He said two others were injured in the crash.

U.S. embassy personnel were traveling to the crash scene late Friday, Ziff said.