Paraguayan president pledges to step up fight against rebel guerrilla group

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes on Thursday vowed to step up the presence of armed forces in the country's northern region after the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) guerrilla group carried out an attack on police patrols there Wednesday night. "What we are going to do is make our presence known and make it increasingly larger," Cartes said, according to media sources in the capital Asuncion. "The work continues," said Cartes, referring to the government' s combat against the rebel group. According to him, the Interior Ministry of the country was in charge of the campaign. The EPP guerrillas ambushed three police patrols near Horqueta in the country's northern Concepcion, 428 kilometers north of Asuncion, the national capital, late Wednesday, killing one police officer and injuring two others. Describing the ambush as "a cowardly and cruel" attack, Interior Minister Francisco De Vargassaid the attack represented an affront to the police community and all Paraguayan citizens and pledged to take action to combat the rebel group in the coming hours. Just two days after Cartes, a millionaire businessman-turned politician, took office on Aug. 15, the EPP claimed responsibility for the death of five security guards at a rural farm in Concepcion. In response, Cartes ordered the deployment of the armed forces in Concepcion, as well as two other regions to " guarantee domestic security." The EPP, a guerrilla group that came into operation since 2008 in northern Paraguay, has also been accused of killings, kidnappings, as well as carrying out attacks on police stations.