An uprising at a maximum security prison in Peru has ended peacefully, the government has announced.

President Alberto Fujimori said a siege between imprisoned members of the leftist Shining Path rebel movement and authorities at Yanamayo prison had been "brought to a close".

He did not give details on how the siege ended.

Hostages

The imprisoned rebels were holding 24 prison officials hostage, following an uprising on Sunday at the jail.

According to Mr Fujimori, only one hostage has been injured.

Speaking to Peruvian radio, Mr Fujimori added that his government rejected the prisoners' demands.

Reports from Peru said the rebels had demanded prisoner of war status and a meeting with their leader, Abimael Guzman.

Mr Guzman, who launched the Maoist movement's war to impose a communist state, is serving a life sentence at a naval base near Lima.

Mr Fujimori said some of those who took part in the uprising might be transferred to another maximum security prison near Lima, where a number of rebel leaders are being held in solitary confinement.

Siege

During the day, about 300 soldiers and police surrounded Yanamayo prison, which lies 3,870m (12,700 ft) up in the Andes mountains.

On Monday, the Peruvian government had confirmed that the rebels killed a fellow inmate after he tried to stop the hostage-taking.

A police guard was also killed in a three-hour clash on Sunday when security forces tried but failed to rescue the hostages, military sources say.

There were unconfirmed reports of conflict within the prison between Shining Path and another left-wing Peruvian group, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).

'Inhumane'

Yanamayo holds around 300 inmates from Peru's rebel groups - Shining Path and the Cuban-inspired MRTA.

The MRTA has repeatedly warned that Peruvian security forces might provoke a riot at Yanamayo to give them an excuse to violently quell protesters.

Human rights groups and rebel spokesmen label Peru's guerrilla jail system "inhumane".

They say inmates receive poor diets and spend about 23 hours a day in small, cold, dimly lit cells that typically have a hole in the concrete floor serving as a toilet.