39 Guerrillas Slain, Peru Reports; No. 3 Maoist Rebel Among Dead

Army patrols in one week killed 39 Shining Path rebels, including an insurgent considered the No. 3 leader of the Maoist group, the state Andina news agency reported.

The toll of 39 rebel deaths reported late Friday by Andina was the largest number of insurgent casualties ever announced by Peru’s military at one time.

The rebel deaths occurred in five different skirmishes Oct. 18-23 between army patrols and rebels in the southern Andean region around Ayacucho, the traditional stronghold of the Shining Path group, Andina said.

‘Astute and Slippery’

Soldiers broke up an assembly of regional Shining Path leaders Wednesday and Thursday in the village of Pomatambo, killing insurgent leader Claudio Bellido Huaytalla, the highest-ranking Shining Path rebel ever slain, Andina said.

“Military sources indicate Bellido was an exceedingly astute and slippery man who used to disguise himself as a priest and even as a woman to slip into the settlements of the region,” Andina said.

Andina identified Bellido as the No. 3 leader and main recruiter in the Ayacucho region for Shining Path, one of Latin America’s most extreme left-wing rebel groups.

“Military sources said that Bellido’s death is the strongest blow dealt to subversion . . . since Shining Path first appeared in the rural areas of the country,” Andina said.

The military made no mention of casualties among its troops.