The president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, has announced that an uprising by jailed rebels at a maximum security prison in the Andes mountains has ended.

Around fifty members of the Shining Path rebel movement took control of the prison on Sunday to demand better conditions and the right to be recognised as prisoners of war.

Mr Fujimori said twenty-four prison guards being held hostage had been released.

He said all the inmates' demands had been rejected.

The jail houses several hundred prisoners convicted under Peru's anti-terrorism laws.

The BBC South America correspondent says the peaceful end to the siege will come as a further boost to Mr Fujimori, who has won considerable popularity for his tough stance against Peruvian guerrilla movements.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service