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| Peru Rebels Suspected In Bombing |
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Posted by FoM on March 22, 2002 at 09:18:45 PT By Anthony Faiola and Lucien Chauvin Source: Washington Post 
A bomb that ripped through an upscale shopping center across from the U.S. Embassy here three days before a visit by President Bush, killing nine people, carried telltale signs that the notorious Shining Path guerrilla group may be trying to stage a comeback in Peru, U.S. and Peruvian officials said today.Bush, setting off on his four-day trip to Mexico, El Salvador and Peru, said "two-bit terrorists" such as those who detonated the 100-pound bomb here late Wednesday night would not deter him from following through on his plans to spend Saturday night in Lima and "promote our friendships in the hemisphere." "Today we had a terrible suicide bombing in Israel, and innocent lives were lost. And there was the one in Peru yesterday, where people lost their lives," Bush said at Andrews Air Force Base this morning as he met with Milton Green, an American whose wife and stepdaughter were killed last weekend when a man hurled hand grenades at a Christian church in Islamabad, Pakistan. "This is a dangerous world," Bush said. "Too many people are losing their lives to murders. History has called us into action." The Peruvian president, Alejandro Toledo, promised to strike with an "iron fist" against the bombers and to prevent a resurgence of the Maoist guerrillas who, along with other leftist groups, plagued Peru during the 1980s and early '90s. "Peru, my government and the brave Peruvian people will not allow terrorism to resurface in Peru," Toledo told delegates to a U.N. development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, which Bush also attended tonight. White House officials spent hours on the telephone trying to obtain more details on the bombing. They said that although decisions regarding Bush's safety were ultimately up to the Secret Service, no thought was given to canceling the president's 15-hour stop in Lima. They added that his schedule here, as of tonight, had not been curtailed. But the bombing, which American intelligence officials interpreted as an anti-U.S. strike, raised the specter of another front in the war on terrorism that Bush has waged since the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. Already, his administration has abandoned earlier reluctance to allow U.S. anti-narcotics aid to be used in a four-decade-long war against leftist rebels in Colombia, a neighbor of Peru's. The conflict there risks spilling into Ecuador and Brazil. "This certainly moves the topic of regional terrorism to the top of the agenda," said a U.S. official in Latin America who asked not to be identified. "The neighborhood is getting rougher. It's in our interest to help as much as we can." The package bomb, which was placed underneath a car at the El Polo Shopping Center in Lima's upscale Monterrico district, exploded at 10:45 p.m. across the street from the fortress-like U.S. Embassy. The $67 million embassy building, which is set back from the sidewalks, was not damaged and no U.S. citizens were hurt. But officials here and in Washington said they have no doubt the attack was an anti-U.S. blow related to Bush's visit. The bomb ripped through restaurants and shops, causing widespread damage and hurling debris as far as 200 yards. According to the Interior Ministry, the bomb had a long fuse that, when ignited, drew the attention of police and security guards who thought the car was on fire. Some of them approached the car, and at least two of them were killed by the blast. No one asserted responsibility for the bombing, which injured 30 people. But Peruvian and U.S. intelligence officials said the leading suspects are members of the long-dormant Shining Path. The violent insurgents had been largely subdued, with substantial U.S. assistance, during the presidency of the now-disgraced Alberto Fujimori. But officials in Peru described the bombing as a signal the group may be reemerging. Peruvians expressed fear that the bombing, the most dramatic act of terrorism in Lima since rebels seized the Japanese ambassador's residence in 1996, could herald a new run of guerrilla violence. Sources close to the investigation said they have not ruled out other possible links to foreign terrorist networks, including radical Islamic groups or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC, made up of leftist insurgents linked to narcotics traffickers in Colombia, has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government and has threatened to attack U.S. targets. Several jailed members of the Shining Path denied from their cells today that the group had been involved in the attack. But the explosive used here Wednesday -- 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil -- closely resembled the type used in past attacks by the Shining Path, as did the absence of a claim of responsibility. Rebels or their sympathizers were also suspected of planting a smaller bomb that exploded Wednesday night in front of a Spanish-owned telephone company in Lima. No one was injured in that blast. The bombing "clearly has the markings of a Shining Path operation," a senior U.S. intelligence official said in Washington. "Shining Path has used car bombs in the past, they've launched attacks like this one before. . . . It's likely that it was intended to embarrass the president of Peru on the eve of the [U.S.] president's visit. It was an unmistakable signal." The official said there "isn't any indication at this point that it's related to al Qaeda, although you certainly can't dismiss that, and we're not. But there isn't evidence pointing in that direction." Peruvian authorities, aided by Secret Service agents who arrived in the area ahead of Bush, struggled to contain the panic Wednesday night as loved ones searched for missing victims. Body parts were thrown as far as 20 feet from the impact. Some bodies were so badly mutilated that only six of the nine victims were officially identified. Windows were blown out of houses within a two-block radius. Susie Carrasco, a witness who lives a half-block away, said, "It was like an earthquake. I've never seen anything like this before. "We saw this coming," she added. "The embassy is secure while we have to do what we can to prevent these attacks." Carlos Rodriguez, 32, whose uncle was killed in the attack, stood in a daze Wednesday night near the site of the blast. "I'm going to wait here until they give me my uncle," he said, staring out at the scene. "This is too hard to accept." Along with a smaller leftist insurgency group known as the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, the Shining Path turned much of Peru into a war zone during the 1980s and '90s, with bombs rocking Lima, the capital, almost nightly. The Shining Path often used fuel oil and ammonium nitrate bombs in its heyday. However, the group was thought to have been largely defeated in 1992, when its founder and leader, Abimael Guzman, and most of the group's leadership were arrested. Since then, the Shining Path has stumbled, with no apparent leader outside prison. A splinter group, known as the Red Path, carried out sporadic attacks until 1999, when its leader, Oscar Ramirez Duran, was arrested. But there were two major attacks attributed to Shining Path last year. In May, a car bomb exploded in downtown Lima near the National Elections Board. In August, four police officers were killed near the Ene River, in Peru's coca-growing central jungle. According to the State Department's annual human rights report, the Shining Path carried out 103 attacks last year, killing 31 people. The U.S. government has kept the Shining Path on its list of international terrorist organizations. The Peruvian government estimates that no more than 400 Shining Path militants are in the country, operating mainly in the Upper Huallaga and Apurimac Valley, both high-jungle coca-growing areas, and in the highlands of Ayacucho, the Andean region where the Shining Path launched its war against the government in 1980. Staff writers Karen DeYoung, with Bush, and Vernon Loeb in Washington contributed to this report. Note: Some Fear Return Of Shining Path. Source: Washington Post (DC) Related Articles: Losing the War on Terrorism in Peru Bush Begins Latin Swing in Mexico Bombing in Peru Sends Message To Bush Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #3 posted by qqqq on March 22, 2002 at 14:43:23 PT |
| ..it used to be,,,that when a bombing happened,,all kinds of groups would be callin' up and taking credit for it,,,, not any more. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Sudaca on March 22, 2002 at 14:24:37 PT |
| that the spokesperson for "Sendero Luminoso" claims it wasn't their operation. Insurgent groups have always claimed their attacks as a means to demonstrate their reach and "power". In any case it don't matter, the thesis is now public and Peru has a new military ally. All we're missing in the region is "terrorist" status for the Mapuche Indians in Chile. Hey call in the dogs, the authority has "new friends" once again. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by qqqq on March 22, 2002 at 12:55:48 PT |
| ..the suspected Peruvian rebels also had ties to the FARC and Al-Quida Palestinian meth labs...The terrorists are also involved in child porn chat rooms,and recieve most of their funding from drug sales [ Post Comment ] |
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