ANOTHER SENDERO LUMINOSO AMBUSH LEAVES EIGHT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 005397 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/AND, S/CT, INL, DS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2015 TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC SNAR PE SUBJECT: ANOTHER SENDERO LUMINOSO AMBUSH LEAVES EIGHT POLICEMEN DEAD REF: A. LIMA 5335 ¶B. LIMA 5203 Classified By: D/Polcouns Art Muirhead for Reason 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. On 12/20, Sendero Luminoso (SL) members ambushed and killed eight Peruvian National Police officers near the town of Aucayacu, located in the Huallaga River coca production zone. The attack followed by only two weeks the SL murder of five officers in northern Ayacucho, a different coca producing area. President Toledo denounced the attack, and accused the Senderistas of becoming servants of the drug traffickers. The Interior Minister sent in 150 reinforcements to hunt for the SL contingent, and called for a meeting of the National Defense Council to discuss the terrorism threat. Post believes the pattern of SL activity is changing, and that the security situation in affected areas will continue to deteriorate until the GOP takes systematic countermeasures. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The latest incident in the new sequence of violent attacks against GOP security forces by the Sendero Luminoso terrorist group took place on the afternoon of 12/20 near the town of Aucayacu in Huanuco Department. An estimated twenty SL members ambushed a Peruvian National Police (PNP) vehicle near a bridge on the Tingo Maria - Aucayacu highway. Seven police officers died in the initial attack after a gun-battle of about 20 minutes, and their commander, Major Marino Martinez Palacios, died later from his wounds. Three of the policemen received killing shots in the head, at close range. The attackers left behind a flag with a hammer and sickle emblem in the vicinity of the massacre. They also took possession of the arms of the dead officers, including rifles and grenades. ¶3. (U) The attack took place in the Huallaga Valley region, which is an area of intense coca cultivation, and the northern-most of two remaining areas of concentration of SL forces in the field. The eight police deaths make this the deadliest ambush that has occurred in the region in the past several years. It followed by only two weeks the murder of five officers traveling in two DIRANDRO (narcotics police) vehicles near San Francisco, Ayacucho, which is located within the more southernly zone of SL concentration (Ref B). The Huallaga is host to "Artemio's" SL column, while the Ayacucho attack was perpetrated by the "Alipio" column. ¶4. (C) In the aftermath of the attack, Embassy NAS officials were contacted by DIRANDRO Director General Carlos Olivo, who said he was calling on behalf of Police Director General Luis Montoya. Olivo requested medical evacuation of the only officer who had survived the attack, and who was experiencing serious blood loss. Two night-vision goggle equipped teams were launched from Pucallpa a little before midnight, but received word after fifty minutes of flight that the officer had already been evacuated by ambulance. The NAS helicopters returned to base without incident. ¶5. (C) According to the PNP incident report, an unspecified number of PNP reinforcements were immediately sent to the scene from Tingo Maria in the MI-17 helicopter. Forty additional reinforcements arrived overland in five vehicles. Police officers were able to catch up with and briefly exchange fire with the retreating terrorists, but the SL managed to withdraw its forces sucessfully. An individual seeking treatment for a gunshot wound at the local clinic was arrested by the PNP based on suspicion of his involvement in the attack. ¶6. (U) At a 12/21 ceremony to mark the end of the academic year at the Police Academy, President Toledo condemned the attack, and said that if the Senderistas were fighting for some kind of ideal, they shouldn't be converting themselves into servants of the drug traffickers. After requesting aminute of silence in honor of the eight "heroic" officers, Toledo said they had been cut down by "cowardly terrorists who sell themselves for dirty money," and he pledged t make sure that the PNP gets "the resources that it needs." ¶7. (U) Minister of the Interior Romulo Pizarro traveled to Tingo Maria, arriving together with about 150 additional police officers who will join in the hunt for the SL contingent that Pizarro said had carried out the "cowardly, criminal" Aucayacu ambush. He announced that he was calling for a meeting of the National Defense Council in order to discuss the terrorism threat. Pizarro was accompanied on the trip by Congessman Luis Iberico, Chairman of the Defense Commission of the Congress. Iberico called for the GOP to declare a State of Emergency in the Huallaga Valley, and said the PNP and the Army needed to plan for joint action against SL, as the two security forces were cooperating, "at much less than is their capacity." ¶8. (C) COMMENT: This incident is another indicator that the pattern of SL activity is changing. The security situation in the areas where SL operates will continue to deteriorate until systematic countermeasures are taken, especially now that SL benefits from significant support from some sectors involved in coca production. STRUBLE