140-man military strike team ends 4-month captivity
Japan was not told in
advance of the raid on
its embassy.
LIMA, Peru (AP)—In a lightning
assault, Peruvian troops stormed the
Japanese ambassador’s mansion Tues
day and rescued 71 hostages held for
four months, killing all 14 rebel cap
tors as the unsuspecting guerrillas re
portedly played soccer.
One captive, Supreme Court Jus
tice Carlos Giusti, and two soldiers
also died, President Alberto Fujimori
said. Some hostages were secretly
warned just before the raid, one of the
freed men said.
Fujimori said 25 other captives
were injured in the gunfire and explo
sions that rocked the compoimd, only
two seriously — Peru’s foreign min
ister, Francisco Tudela, and another
Supreme Court justice, both suffering
gunshot wounds.
“I didn’t waver for a single minute
in giving the order for this rescue op
eration,” said the president, who
throughout the crisis adamantly re
jected the guerrillas’ demand that
jailed comrades be freed in exchange
for the captive diplomats and business
men.
The operation ended an interna
tional ordeal that had transfixed two
nations and focused global attention
on a little-known leftist rebel group,
Tupac Amaru, which has waged guer
rilla war here since 1984.
In Tokyo, Japan’s prime minister
called it a “splendidrescue,” but also
said it was “regrettable” that Peru had
not forewarned his government of the
surprise, broad-daylight attack.
Fujimori told reporters late Tues
day that inteUigenceinformation con
vinced him it was an ideal time to end
the impasse by force.
He apparently was referring to
word of the indoor soccer game. Bo
livian Ambassador Jorge Gumucio,
one of the freed hostages, said eight
hostage-holders were playing soccer
in the main hall of the diplomatic resi
dence when the security forces struck,
first setting off an explosion in a tun
nel directly under the hall.
It was about 3:30 p.m. The 140
man military-police assault team
poured through the compound’s front
gate, then blasted open the mansion’s
front door. Others attacked from the
rear, and a third unit climbed to the
rooftop and shepherded hostages
down.
It ended quickly. As smoke bil
lowed over the residence,triumphant
soldiers hauled down the guerrillas’
flag, andex-hostages and rescuers
cheered and jubilantly sang the Peru
vian national anthem. A large pool of
blood could be seen at the bottom of a
stairway.
The relatively low casualty toll
among hostages was surprising to
some. An armed forces assessment
early in the 126-day siege estimated
such an assault would cost the lives of
70 percent of those in the compound.
The hostages, all male, were
mostly Peruvians, but also included 24
Japanese — 12 businessmen and 12
diplomats, including Japan’s ambas
sador, Moribisa Aoki, who suffered a
slight elbow injury during the rescue.
There were no Americans among the
hostages.
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minis
ter Ryutaro Hashimoto said Peru had
not told him in advance of the raid,
even though the compound is techni
cally Japanese soil.
“Our country was not informed in
advance and this is very regrettable,”
he said. But he expressed support for
Pern’s leader, saying, “There should
be nobody who could criticize Mr.
Fujimori for his decision.”
Hashimoto said all the Japanese
hostages were safe, but some were
slightly injured.
Thlks to peacefully end the crisis
broke down March 12 over the rebels’
demand that Peru free their jailed
comrades. Fujimori repeatedly ruled
that out.
Fujimori had said he would use
force to end the crisis only as a last
resort, but Peruvian news media re
peatedly reported military plans to raid
the compound.
Peni’s hostage chronology
Dec. 17: About 15 Tupac Amaru raws seize more
than 500 hostages at the Japanese ambassador’s
residence. Later, they release the women.
Dec. 18: Rebels threaten to kl hostages unless
the government releases jaled comrades.
Guerrillas later release ambassadors of Germany,
Canada and Greece and a Peruvian diplomat
Dec. 19: The International Red Cross is
designated as intermediary between rebels and
government Three hostages are released.
Dec. 20: Rebels free 38 hostages, including
ambassadors of Brazil, South Korea and Egypt
Dec. 21: Rebels male more demands, inducing
changes in governments economic policy to benefit
the poor. Fujimori refuses to cede to their demands.
Dec. 22: Rebels free 225 hostages, including
diplomats from Austria, Cuba, \renezuela, Panama,
Spain and toe United States.
Dec. 24: Uruguay's ambassador is released after Ns
oounlry frees two Tupac Amaru rebels held there.
Peru recdls top envoy in Montevideo in protest
Dec. 26: Guatemala's ambassador freed.
Dec. 28: Government negotiator meets with rebels
who later release 20 hostages. Red Cross says 83
hostages remain.
Dec. 31: Rebels release diplomats from Argentina and
Honduras, leaving 81 hostages.
Jan. 1,1997: Rebels release seven more hostages,
leaving 74 captives inside the embassy residence.
March 12 Talks break down over Oerpa’s demand
that hundreds of rebels be released.
April 22. Peruvian forces storm the ambassador's
residence and rescue dozens of hostages.
Source: AP Research
AP
Massacre claims 93
‘ ‘ "" ‘ : W ",''r
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP)-—At
tackers used knives, hatchets and
shovels on Tuesday to kill 93 vil
lagers, including three children, in
the bloodiest massacre of a five
year Muslim insurgency.
The early-morning massacre
was the latest violence in a cam
paign of terror by Muslim insur
gents in advance of June 5 parlia
mentary elections, in which they
are banned from running.
The Interior Ministry said 47
men, 43 women and three children
were killed near the town of
Bougara, 12 miles south of Algiers.
In addition to the 93 dead, 25
people were injured in the attack,
18 of them seriously.
Some townspeople were muti
lated by their attackers — their
heads, legs or arms severed — ac
cording to hospital workers in
Algiers and Blida, site of the
Algiers-area army garrison.
The June elections will be the
first since the army halted January
1992 parliamentary voting to
thwart a likely victory by the now
banned Islamic Salvation Front.
The move triggered the insurgency
and repression by security forces,
which have left mere than 60,000
people dead.
Members of a family who fled
the area described the heavily
armed group as Islamic guerrillas.
They said the group began killing
villagers because they refused to
“collaborate.”
Armed groups depend for their
survival on ordinary citizens who
provide food, money and other ne
cessities.
“We have no more to give.
They’ve already taken everything:
money, food, animals,” one mem
ber of the arriving family said.
The massacre was the biggest
single mass killing since the birth
of the insurgency.
Muslim militants killed 22
people in another village massacre
earlier this month. Such massacres
around Algiers have become in
creasingly common, killing more
than 370 people, including
Tuesday’s victims, in the past
month.
The Armed Islamic Group,
blamed for most of the massacres,
wants to topple the government. ,
Leak worsening on space station
MOSCOW (AP) — Antifreeze
fumes leaking from a cooling pipe on
the aging Mir space station have
reached the maximum acceptable con
centration and may become danger
ous to the Russian-American crew, a
news agency reported Tuesday.
The crew has fixed two other leaks,
but a remaining leak in the Kvant-1
research module has eluded cosmo
nauts trying to seal it, Mission Con
trol Center spokesman Viktor Blagov
said at a news briefing, according to
Interfax.
Blagov said officials were worried
about the situation, but it was not im
mediately clear what would happen to
the station and its crew if the leak is
not found soon. The Russian space
agency did not answer calls from The
Associated Pfess on Tuesday night.
NASA is unaware of any new se
rious problems aboard the Mir and has
not heard of any plans to abandon the
space station, said Frank Culbertson,
director of the agency’s shuttle-Mir
program.
Culbertson said the levels of leaked
antifreeze were safe and that the three
men aboard the station were in no
immediate danger.
“If they were in immediate danger,
they would be on their way home,” he
told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
The three men are taking blood
and urine samples to check for any
evidence of ethylene glycol,
Culbertson said. “So far, they’ve
shown no ill effects.”
Jury ready in McVeigh trial
DENVER (AP)—Seven men and
five women were selected Tuesday to
hear the Oklahoma City bombing trial,
with the judge using a bingo-style sys
tem of numbers to shield the identi
ties of the already anonymous jurors.
Sources close to the case said the
jury consisted of seven men and five
women, with an alternate panel of
three men and three women.
A sloping wall keeps most report
ers from seeing into the jury box, but
members of the public have a better
view. Audience members said the
panel appeared to have 16 whites and
two whose race could not be deter
mined, but who appeared to be either
Hispanic or American Indian.
Those jurors who could be seen by
reporters included an elderly white
man who leaned over and stared at
reporters; a young white man with
glasses; a young white woman with
curly Monde hair; a white balding man
with a mustache; a man with long dark
hair who appeared to be an American
Indian and a white young man with a
beard.
Jurors return Thursday to take
their oath and hear opening statements
as Timothy McVeigh stands trial in
the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
The 28-year-old Gulf War veteran
is charged in the April 19,1995, truck
bombing of the downtown Oklahoma
City federal building that killed 168
people and injured hundreds more. He
could face the death penalty if con
victed.
Intent on preserving jurors’ pri
vacy, U.S. District Judge Richard
Matsch concocted an unusual system
Of exercising peremptory challenges,
in which jurors were identified by a
letter and a number.
Lawyers called out the codes—D
2, A-4, E-6 and the like — of the ju
rors to be dismissed. In peremptory
challenges, no reason must be stated
to excuse a juror. The process took
about a half hour.
Prosecutor Joseph Hartzler tried to
make light of the system.
“Lite bingo, your honor,” Hartzler
quipped.
Matsch glared at the prosecutor
and said, “It’s a lot more serious than
a bingo game.”
By renumbering the jurors, Matsch
was creating an anonymous jury be
cause reporters and the public would
not be able to link panelists with an
swers they gave during questioning.
Since the trial began three weeks
ago, Matsch has been meeting in se
cret with lawyers to handle the dis
missal of prospective jurors based on
their beliefs about the death penalty
or other views. He’s even barred re
porters from seeing prospects’ faces
and kept them from getting transcripts
of court sessions.
“I think the public has a lot to
lose,” said Jane Kirtley, executive di
rector for the Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press in Washington.
“Our whole system of justice is on trial
here.”
But Jack King, spokesman for the
National Association of Criminal De
fense Lawyers in Washington, said
Matsch is just being cautious.
King said a secret process “pre
vents juror intimidation, and keeps
them from being bothered by the press
if they don’t want it.”
The defense mulled over its pe
remptory challenges for up to 30 sec
onds at a time, with McVeigh and his
attorneys working off of charts and
multicolored graphs.
As the session wore on, McVeigh
became increasingly involved in the
decision-making. Working with two
black felt pens - a fat (me and a skinny
one - McVeigh scratched off the num
bers of excused jurors and frequently
leaned over to confer with Jones.
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