While corporate news sources like Reuters initially claimed the victim, Leoncio Fernández Pacheco, was a bystander and implied his death was accidental, Peruvian media are now admitting he was probably shot by police.

The conflict took place before dawn on Thursday in the town of Espinar, 400 miles (650 km) south of Lima.

The Majes-Siguas II irrigation project will leave Espinar without water, say residents.

They were enraged when the state investment agency awarded a concession on Monday for the project to a private consortium called Angostura-Siguas without listening to their concerns.

Peru's government has encouraged the growth of export-oriented agricultural farms and the petroleum industry.

Last year, three dozen people died in a clash over land in the Amazon jungle where indigenous tribes are resisiting the destruction of their land by oil exploration.