Two soldiers were killed on Friday August 12 in eastern Peru during clashes with the Shining Path (SL) guerrillas, the Peruvian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday. The leader of the Maoist armed organization, created in May 1980, was ” seriously injured “.
Since Thursday, the Peruvian army and police have launched an operation against SL members in the Vizcatan region in eastern Peru. They succeeded “to reach a series of terrorist camps, as well as the location of Victor Quispe Palomino, alias comrade “José””the ministry said in a statement.
“There were several killed within the SL and in particular in the entourage of its leader “José””, according to the text. During the operation, the army and the police were able to confiscate “weapons, equipment, computers, many books and documents”the statement added.
69,000 dead in twenty years
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announced on Twitter that he had “ordered the search for the last terrorists to continue”claiming that his government “wouldn’t give up”. For his part, the Minister of Defence, José Luis Gavidia, specified that the operation pursued the guerrillas in this zone of the east of the country where they found refuge.
The Vizcatan region, a coca-growing area and refuge for the last elements of the SL guerrillas, which protects drug trafficking, has been covered for two decades by army patrols.
“They have been there for 12 or 15 years, the area is difficult to access, they have traps and caves”, he told the Peruvian television channel. A soldier wounded by bullet was hospitalized and his condition is evolving “favorably”said the minister.
In March 2021, number two of the SL, Jorge Quispe Palomino, alias comrade Raul, brother of Victor Quispe Palomino, alias comrade José, was killed in this same region. In two decades, clashes with the army have claimed 69,000 lives, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.