Peruvian guerilla chief caught

"Artemio," leader of the once-feared Shining Path guerilla movement, was alive but seriously wounded, Peru's military said Sunday, after he was captured by security forces in a remote jungle renowned for drug trafficking.

"He is alive and receiving the appropriate medical attention," Defense Minister Alberto Otarola said, retracting an earlier declaration from President Ollanta Humala that the rebel fighter had been killed.

Artemio, whose real name is Florindo Flores, was reportedly wounded in a battle with police after a military offensive was launched last week to secure his capture. For years the Peruvian anti-drug police had tried to arrest Artemio, 47. Two years ago the US also offered a multimillion dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.

The leftist organization Shining Path had sought to overthrow the Peruvian government since 1980. The group had since gone into the cocaine trade after its founder was imprisoned in the 1990s during a bloody war against the state that killed nearly 70,000 people.

President Humala, who fought against the Shining Path when he was a military officer in the 1990s, had vowed to step up efforts to catch members of the revolutionary group which has been listed by both Lima and the US State Department as a terrorist organization.

ccp/dfm (AFP, Reuters)