Many dead in operation to arrest pilot in Venezuela

caracas — Several people including two police officers were killed in an operation to capture a helicopter pilot who bombed Venezuela’s Supreme Court during anti-government protests last year, the interior ministry said on Monday.

A ministry statement said members of a “terrorist cell” were killed in a fierce gunbattle, and five were captured, but did not say whether the pilot, Oscar Perez, was among the dead or detained.

Six police were wounded, President Nicolas Maduro told lawmakers.

The cell had planned to set off a car bomb outside the embassy of “a beloved and prestigious country,” Maduro said.

Reports said Perez and associates were holed up for hours in a house 25 kilometers northwest of Caracas during the raid.

Perez released videos on Instagram in which he said authorities were trying to kill him and his people even though they wanted to surrender.

Press reports said Perez did in fact die in the raid.

At the height of street protests against Maduro last June, Perez and unidentified accomplices flew over Caracas in a police helicopter and dropped four grenades on the Supreme Court before opening fire on the interior ministry. There were no casualties.

Perez has been on the run since authorities issued an arrest warrant

The 36-year-old former elite police officer and actor has regularly taunted the government during his time in hiding, saying he was fighting against Maduro’s “tyranny” and the “narco-dictatorship.”—