Peru nationalists vow to end siege
Rebels hold 10 officers hostage at police station
LIMA -- The leader of a nationalist group that seized a remote police station, taking 10 police officers hostage, and later allegedly ambushed a police vehicle, killing four officers, agreed yesterday to publicly lay down his weapons.
Antauro Humala's pledge signaled the end of a standoff that began Saturday after about 100 gunmen seized the police station in Andahuaylas, 275 miles southeast of Lima, and demanded that President Alejandro Toledo resign, a demand Toledo rejected.
''The turning over of arms will be tomorrow at noon before the entire town," Humala told his followers in a speech broadcast live by Radioprogramas radio.
He told them that their dignity would be respected and that they would ''each hand over their arms and, in uniform, be directed to a detainment complex."
''These soldiers, these romantics, these young boys have risked their skins for their nationalist ideals," the retired army major said.
In a separate statement on CPN radio, he denied reports that his men ambushed police early yesterday, insisting they had repelled a surprise attack by authorities.
Authorities said the group ambushed a police vehicle responding to the scene and killed four police officers while wounding several more. One gunman was killed, CPN radio reported.
Humala's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Ollanta Humala, told Canal N television he could not condone such violence, and Antauro Humala's initial offer to end the standoff followed that statement.
Humala, along with his brother and their followers, sought to establish a nationalist indigenous movement modeled on the ancient Incan Empire. Ollanta Humala is in South Korea, where he served as a military attach at Peru's Embassy until his recent forced retirement.
''I have heard my brother's words," Antauro Humala told Canal N. ''I can only say that we are willing to put down our weapons since our commander, Ollanta Humala, is ordering it and, as disciplined soldiers, we obey."
He said the offer was conditional on the safety of his followers.
The Interior Ministry had asked townspeople near the besieged police station to abandon their homes, sparking rumors of an imminent attack by security forces.
Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero told Radioprogramas that more than 1,000 special forces were entering the town to restore order, in line with a 30-day state of emergency in the remote Andean region declared Saturday night.
''But also, they have the exact instructions to request that the armed group that took the police station end the siege, release the hostages, leave the police station, as well as lay down their arms," Ferrero said.
Broadcasts yesterday showed Humala in battle fatigues atop a car, brandishing a pistol while addressing his men, all armed.
Officials at two hospitals told Peruvian media the death toll from yesterday's clash included a police captain, a lieutenant, and two officers.
Antauro Humala blamed authorities. ''The police this morning attacked an advance post of reservists on the colonial bridge that we control, along with various blocks of the town of Andahuaylas," he told CPN radio. ''They attacked with silencers, and we had one casualty."
At least seven people were wounded in a shoot-out during the takeover Saturday. 