U.S. Would Aid Military Attack, Peru Paper Says

U.S. and Peruvian paratroopers would plunge into the besieged ambassador’s compound here from whirring helicopters, plant explosives at six points around the mansion and then storm it.

In a nighttime operation that would take only seven minutes--but could leave as many as 90 people dead--soldiers would seize leftist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement rebels and try to rescue 72 hostages from the Japanese ambassador’s residence.

At least that’s the military plan if Peru’s hostage standoff cannot be resolved peacefully, a major Peruvian newspaper reported Sunday.

But Diario La Republica reported that the army, fearing high casualties, wants to leave the raid as a last resort.

The newspaper quoted a Feb. 5 “Intervention Plan” by the Army Intelligence Agency as saying “it cannot be assured that a military action will be clean; there could be numerous . . . losses.”

The rebels accused President Alberto Fujimori’s government of pursuing a military end to the 9-week-old hostage standoff.

“The government wants to change the situation and prepare conditions for a violent end to the crisis,” they said in a faxed statement from the rebel group’s office in Hamburg, Germany.

Fujimori has received the proposal, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, reached by telephone in Panama, denied any U.S. plan to free the hostages. “We are not involved in the situation down there,” said the spokesman, who would not give his name.

La Republica said that the plan calls for backup from the U.S. Southern Command, using Latino soldiers from the U.S. Special Forces.