Shining Path central region of Haunuco, Peru. The victims were gunned down by sniper fire coming from the thick forest as more than 200 workers were destroying coca plants. Since this attack, the Shining Path faction, based in the Upper Huallaga Valley of Peru and headed by Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, alias Comrade Artemio, has been operating in a survival mode, and has lost 9 of their top 10 leaders to Peruvian National Police (PNP)-led capture operations. Two of the eight leaders were killed by PNP personnel during the attempted captures. Those nine arrested/killed Shining Path (Upper Huallaga Valley faction) leaders include
Shining Path returned to the areas where the Shining Path had been active. Although the organization's numbers had lessened by 2003, a militant faction of the Shining Path called "Proseguir" ("Onward") continued to be active. On May 21, 2002, a car bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Lima just before a visit by President George W. Bush. Nine people were killed and 30 were injured; the attack was determined to be the work of the Shining Path. On June 9, 2003, a Shining Path group attacked a camp in Ayacucho, and took 68 employees of the Argentinian company Techint and three