Peru Rebels Fire Warning to Police to Keep Distance

LIMA, Peru — Rebels fired bursts of machine-gun fire Wednesday inside the diplomatic compound where they hold 73 hostages, in an apparent warning to increasingly bold police to stay away.

Three short bursts of automatic gunfire from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement rebels sent police outside the Japanese ambassador’s walled compound scrambling for cover before dawn. Police were changing shifts at the time, and there was no sign anyone was hurt.

Hours later, the government dispatched two armored personnel carriers to a site a block from the compound. The vehicles later withdrew without incident.

Despite the exchange, there were signs that lines of communication between rebels and the government are still open more than a month after rebels seized the residence during a Dec. 17 party.

Bishop Juan Luis Cipriani, a close ally of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, visited the compound for more than two hours. Cipriani has been designated by both the rebels and the government as a mediator.

Red Cross representative Michel Minnig also went inside.

In a clear signal to the rebels that Tokyo and Lima were united on how to handle the crisis, Japan’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution denouncing them for “conducting criminal acts against the international community.”