Abimael Guzman, head of Peruvian rebel group Shining Path, dies

Imprisoned rebel leader, who had been ill in recent months, died at the age of 86.

Abimael Guzman, leader of the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, rebels who nearly overthrew the Peruvian state in a bloody Maoist revolution, has died while in prison, the government said. He was 86. Guzman was captured in 1992 in Peru’s capital, Lima, and jailed for the rest of his life after being convicted as a “terrorist”. Susana Silva, head of Peru’s prison system, told RPP radio on Saturday that Guzman had been ill in recent months and had been released from a hospital in early August.