Peru Fighters Surrender, Free Captives

Nearly 100 fighters belonging to an armed nationalist group that seized a remote Peruvian police station and took officers and soldiers hostage surrendered to authorities Tuesday and freed their 17 captives, officials said.

The fighters surrendered separately from their leader. Former army Maj. Antauro Humala turned himself in late Monday, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said in a national broadcast Tuesday, while 94 of the group’s fighters walked out of the station Tuesday morning, carrying white flags and placing their automatic rifles on the ground.

The rebels, all former soldiers, flashed “V” signs for victory and sang the Peruvian army anthem before climbing into three buses provided by the police and riding away. The hostages also left in one of the buses.

Fighters supporting Humala, whose group wants to establish a nationalist indigenous movement modeled on the ancient Incan empire, ambushed police reinforcements as they crossed a bridge Sunday, killing four.

Humala’s group demanded the resignation of Toledo, accusing him of selling out Peru to business interests in Chile. Humala and his brother had led a failed military uprising against former President Alberto Fujimori in 2000.

The extremist group opposes foreign investment and preaches against the European-descended elite that has ruled Peru for hundreds of years.

Toledo declared a state of emergency and sent 1,000 troops to the region.

The standoff began Saturday when the gunmen took over the police station in this Andean town, about 275 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said security forces did not storm the building out of concern for the hostages’ safety.

Humala enjoys strong local support. Thousands of residents converged on the town square Monday, demanding a peaceful settlement. Humala joined them during what he claimed was a three-hour truce agreed to by police.