Shining Path rebel leader killed in confrontation with Peruvian army

Record ID: 102717

  • Title: Shining Path rebel leader killed in confrontation with Peruvian army
  • Date: 21st May 2016
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (MAY 20, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GOVERNMENT MINISTERS AND MILITARY OFFICIALS ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEFENCE MINISTER, JAKKE VALAKIVI, SAYING: "The downfall of this significant terrorist named Alejandro Auqui Lopez, alias Alejandro, is a joint effort of the armed forces and adds to the downfall of Comrade Williams in 2012." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADMIRAL JORGE MOSCOSO, SAYING: "This criminal terrorist (Auqui Lopez), after the downfall of Alipio and Gabriel, assumed control of the terrorist military wing of what remained from Antonio. After the operation to neutralise Antonio in 2015, Alejandro took this significant role in the remaining military operations of the terrorists." OFFICIALS STANDING UP AT NEWS CONFERENCE OFFICIALS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th June 2016 01:08
  • Keywords: Peru Shining Path rebels killed soldiers
  • Location: LIMA, UNKNOWN LOCATION, VRAEM REGION, PERU
  • City: LIMA, UNKNOWN LOCATION, VRAEM REGION, PERU
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014IM76TF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A leader in Peru's Shining Path rebel group has been killed following a faceoff with Peruvian soldiers in the country's south, Peru's army reported on Friday (May 20).
    The confrontation happened when military and police were patrolling Huanta province, a rural area of the country where the Shining Path are thought to operate.
    According to reports, the Shining Path attacked the military and police patrol after planting explosives on a nearby high-voltage electricity tower.
    Defence Minister Jakke Valakivi told media that the death of Comrade Alejandro Auqui Lopez is another blow for the rebel group following the death of its sharpshooter Comrade Williams in 2012.
    "The downfall of this significant terrorist named Alejandro Auqui Lopez, alias Alejandro, is a joint effort of the armed forces and adds to the downfall of Comrade Williams in 2012," he said.
    This most recent incident with the rebels follows an ambush last month which resulted in the death of one soldier.
    Admiral Jorge Moscoso from Peru's army said that Auqui Lopez helped lead military operations for the rebels.
    "This criminal terrorist (Auqui Lopez), after the downfall of Alipio and Gabriel, assumed control of the terrorist military wing of what remained from Antonio. After the operation to neutralise Antonio in 2015, Alejandro took this significant role in the remaining military operations of the terrorists," said Admiral Moscoso.
    It has been years since the Shining Path has posed a real threat to the stability of the Peruvian government, but remnant bands of rebels still ambush security forces in jungle valleys where they are widely believed to coordinate with drug traffickers.
    The government of President Ollanta Humala, who fought the Shining Path as an army officer in the 1990s, has captured or killed several members of the group's jungle factions since assuming power in 2011.
    An estimated 69,000 people have died in the internal conflict launched by the Shining Path as part of its Maoist revolution in the South American country.
    The insurgency was crippled in 1992, when its powerful leader Abimael Guzman was captured in a middle-class neighbourhood in the capital city Lima.
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