LIMA. Mar 2: The Peruvian army has captured a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) that is holding 72 hostages here, military sources said yesterday, reports AFP.

Aurelio Leyva, alias "Comrade Jose,” who is the policy chief of the movement, was caught near the town of Oxapampa. 398 kilometrs (247 miles) east of the capital, the sources said.

In another incident, an MRTA rebel was killed in fighting between the guerillas and army soldiers in the same region.