Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, has suspended gold mining and announced a 12-hour curfew in Pataz, in the northern region, after criminals kidnapped and killed 13 gold mine workers.

A Peruvian gold mining company La Poderosa said on Sunday that the bodies of 13 contract workers from a local firm had been found by police inside one of the mine’s tunnels.

Boluarte told journalists on Monday that the “armed forces will take control of the area where La Poderosa operates”, but did not give further details about how the 30-day mining pause would be enforced.

The government response, which critics have called tardy and ineffective, comes amid outrage over the murder of the 13 men who had been held captive for more than a week by criminals believed linked to illegal mining. Police said the hostages were tortured and that video footage – allegedly recorded by the captors themselves – showed the miners were shot dead at point-blank range.