Earlier in the day, Perez said he was negotiating the terms of surrender after he had been surrounded in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

According to the statement of the Venezuelan Interior Ministry aired by a national television channel, Perez and his accomplices opened fire killing two police officers and injuring five others.

On June 28, 2017, a group of security force officers headed by Perez hijacked a helicopter and assailed the Venezuelan Supreme Court in Caracas, opening fire and dropping several hand grenades, and also attacking the nearby Justice Ministry. After declaring the start of their fight against the government, the attackers disappeared. The government labeled the attack as an act of terror.

The incident came as a reaction to the voting on July 30 to elect the Constitutional Assembly set to rewrite the constitution as a way out of the political turmoil that started in January 2016, when a new opposition-controlled legislature was elected and relations between country's President Nicolas Maduro and the parliament became strained.</s>Image copyright Reuters Image caption Oscar Pérez said the security forces wanted to kill him

Renegade helicopter pilot Oscar Pérez was killed in a nine-hour long siege near the capital, Caracas, on Monday, the Venezuelan government has confirmed.

The pilot was labelled a "terrorist" by the government after he threw grenades at government buildings from a helicopter he stole on 27 June.

He had been on the run since then.

Police tracked him down to a house where he was hiding along with members of the anti-government cell he founded.

Who was Oscar Pérez?

Image copyright Instagram Image caption Mr Pérez worked for the forensic police

Oscar Pérez had been a member of the forensic police (known as the CICPC by its initials in Spanish) for 15 years before he hit the headlines.

He flew a CICPC helicopter over Caracas dropping grenades on the Supreme Court and firing shots at the Ministry of the Interior.

No-one was injured in the attack. The helicopter was later found abandoned on the outskirts of Caracas, but Mr Pérez had vanished.

While he managed to elude the security forces for almost seven months, he made at least one appearance at an opposition rally where people cheered him and took selfies with him.

What else did he do?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Pérez was on the run but nevertheless he attended at least one opposition march

After the helicopter attack, Mr Pérez also carried out a raid on a military police post in Los Teques, south-west of Caracas, on 18 December.

He posted footage of himself and masked members of his group overpowering the guards, gagging and tying them up and making off with 26 rifles.

What did he want?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Pérez released a number of videos calling for people to rise up against the government

Before launching his helicopter attack, Oscar Pérez had recorded a video message in which he appeared in front of a group of masked and armed men.

The video emerged at the height of anti-government street protests and he said he was fighting against President Nicolás Maduro's "tyranny" and his "narco-dictatorship."

In the video message, he called on the military, the police and civilians to rise up against the government.

"Together, let's retake our beloved Venezuela," Mr Pérez urged. He said his aim was to "re-establish the constitutional order in Venezuela" and "to return the power to the people".

In the last of his videos uploaded to the photo sharing site Instagram as the siege was under way, he urged Venezuelans "not to lose hope" and to continue fighting for democracy in Venezuela.

What happened on Monday?

Image copyright AFP Image caption The security forces deployed a large number of men

The security forces surrounded the house at 04:00 local time (09:00GMT) on Monday.

At its height, 150 police were involved in the operation, officials said.

During the siege, Mr Pérez posted a series of videos on social media. In the recordings, he can be heard saying that he had offered to turn himself in but that he believed authorities were initially trying to kill him rather than negotiate his surrender.

"They're shooting at us with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]," he said. "There are civilians inside here. We said we'd turn ourselves in, but they don't want to let us turn ourselves in. They want to kill us," Mr Pérez added.

What was the outcome of the siege?

Image copyright Instagram Image caption Venezuelan officials confirmed Oscar Pérez, here seen doing target practice, was killed in the operation

After hours without revealing what Oscar Pérez's fate was, Justice Minister Néstor Reverol gave a news conference on Tuesday.

In it he said that Mr Pérez was among seven "terrorists" killed in the siege.

He also said that two of his "accomplices" in the attack on the military police post were among those killed as well as a woman whose identity has not yet been revealed.

Two members of the security forces also died in the operation and six people have been detained.</s>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 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.

At the height of street protests against President Nicolas 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 Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant through Interpol after accusing him of a “terrorist attack.”

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.”

He urged Venezuelans “not to lose heart. Fight, take to the streets, it is time we are free.”

Two weeks after the attack on the Supreme Court, Perez — at the time Venezuela’s most-wanted man — turned up at a Caracas ceremony to commemorate those who had died in the wave of anti-government protests.

In all, 125 people were killed between April and July as authorities used force to put down protests to unseat Maduro.

Eventually, the protests fizzled out and the socialist president prevailed, despite a staggering crisis caused by falling oil prices, spiralling inflation and corruption.

“These terrorists, who were heavily armed with high-caliber weapons, opened fire on the officials responsible for their capture,” the interior ministry statement said.

It said those who resisted had been killed.

The police were “attacked violently” when they were negotiating the surrender of Perez’s group, it said, adding that they had “tried to detonate a vehicle loaded with explosives.”

AFP journalists trying to reach the area saw an army tank, special forces and ambulances rush to the scene.

Perez said in a video released on Twitter earlier Monday that he and his companions were surrounded and pinned down by police marksmen on a roadway at El Junquito on the outskirts of Caracas.

“They are firing at us with grenade launchers. We said we are going to surrender but they do not want to let us surrender. They want to kill us,” a bloodied Perez said in one of several dramatic videos posted online.

Perez, a former elite police officer, is seen with other men in one of the videos, some of them armed.

He said they were being besieged by snipers.

“We will die standing up defending our land, never kneeling before the tyrants,” another of Perez’s messages said.

Vice president of the ruling Socialist party, Diosdado Cabello, said on Twitter the Police Special Action Force (FAES) had launched the operation to arrest Perez.

He said the security forces had “responded with fire” when two officers were wounded in the operation.

Iris Varela, Venezuela’s minister with responsibility for prisons, rejoiced at the news that police had finally cornered Perez “like a rat.”

“What a coward now that he has been caught like a rat. Where is the courage he had to attack military units, kill and injure officers and steal weapons?” she wrote on Twitter.

In December, Perez claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in the country’s north, in which weapons were seized.

Perez said in a message to his children that his fight against the government was dedicated to them and to the children of Venezuela, suffering the worst of the food and medicine shortages caused by the economic crisis.

Perez, blond and blue-eyed, was well known to Venezuelans even before his attack on the Supreme Court — as an actor. He starred in the film “Muerte Suspendida” (Suspended Death), an action movie based on the true story of the kidnapping of a Portuguese businessman in Caracas.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - Rogue Venezuelan helicopter pilot Oscar Perez was killed in a police operation on Monday along with six other members of a “terrorist cell”, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said on Tuesday.

Reporting by Caracas newsroom, writing by Brian EllsworthEditing by Chizu Nomiyama</s>CARACAS (REUTERS) - Rogue Venezuelan helicopter pilot Oscar Perez was killed in a police operation on Monday along with six other members of a "terrorist cell," the interior minister said on Tuesday (Jan 16), spurring opposition complaints of human rights violations.

Perez, a photogenic ex police officer who once starred in an action film, last year used a stolen helicopter to attack government buildings and stole weapons from a military base in what he called a rebellion against President Nicolas Maduro.

He appeared with a bloody face in nearly a dozen Instagram videos early on Monday, saying he was surrounded by authorities shooting at him with grenade launchers even though he was promising to surrender.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol in a press conference said seven "terrorists" including Perez were killed in the operation outside Caracas along with two police officers involved in the raid.

He said Perez's group had attacked first and that officials had acted in self-defence.

Maduro's socialist government has described Perez as a"fanatic, extremist terrorist" and had been carrying out a manhunt for him since last June.

Government critics initially questioned whether Perez'attacks were staged in cahoots with the government to justify a further crackdown on the opposition.

But his death prompted an outcry over what critics called an extrajudicial killing and turned him into a martyr for hard-line foes of Maduro.

"Honour and glory to those brave citizens who gave their life for their ideals," tweeted former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, now in exile in Spain after himself being jailed on charges of leading a coup against Maduro.</s>Venezuelan authorities say they’ve succeeded in hunting and killing a rebellious police officer accused of carrying out a helicopter and grenade attack against the government last year.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said Tuesday that the officer, 36-year-old Oscar Perez, was killed along with six other members of a “terrorist cell” during a shootout with government forces Monday. Two police officers were also reportedly killed in the shootout.

Perez became internationally known in June when he staged the brazen helicopter attack in Caracas, according to The Associated Press. He’s since been a fugitive, posting videos calling for an uprising against what he called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s tyrannical government.

The New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) — a group founded in 2005 by Venezuelan film producer Thor Halvorssen Mendoza — called the operation an “extrajudicial killing … by Venezuelan security forces.”

In a statement on its website, the HRF claimed Venezuelan state security operatives cornered Perez and his allies at their hideout in the El Junquito neighborhood near Caracas.

“Despite repeated pleas of surrender by Perez and those in his group, government forces opened fire against them with anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles,” the statement said. “Prior to his death, Perez uploaded videos of the assault on his hideout and his pleas for surrender to social media.”

Mr. Halvorssen Mendoza was quoted in the statement as saying the operation against Mr. Perez was “proof … that Nicolas Maduro is a ruthless dictator.”</s>CARACAS (REUTERS) - Self-identified rogue helicopter pilot Oscar Perez appeared with a bloody face in a series of Instagram videos on Monday (Jan 15), saying that he was surrounded by authorities who were shooting at him in a poor neighbourhood outside Caracas.

Perez, a former police pilot, is wanted for using a stolen helicopter to lob grenades and shoot at government buildings in June as well as for breaking into a National Guard unit in December to steal weapons.

President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government has described him as a "fanatic, extremist terrorist" and a manhunt has been under way for months. Some critics of Mr Maduro have questioned whether his attacks were staged in cahoots with the government to justify a further crackdown on the opposition.

Authorities appeared to finally track him down in the poor hillside neighborhood of El Junquito. In a dozen dramatic videos posted on Instagram, Perez said authorities were firing at him with grenade launchers and snipers were outside.

"We're wounded... they're killing us!" said Perez, seemingly wearing a bulletproof vest, as he crouched down in what appeared to be a small house and gunshots were heard in the background.

"Venezuela, don't lose hope... Now only you have power so that we can all be free," he said in an earlier video, staring into the camera and telling his children he loves them and hopes to see them again.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, some members of Mr Maduro's government scoffed at Perez on Monday morning.

"What a coward now that he's caught like a rat!" tweeted Prisons Minister Iris Varela. "Where is the courage he had to attack military units, kill and injure officials and steal weapons?"

An action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond or Rambo-like figure on social media, Perez has added surreal twists to Venezuela's long-running political drama.

He rose to fame in June after allegedly hijacking a police helicopter, flying over Caracas' centre and firing shots at and lobbing grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court.

Perez claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to fight what he said was a tyrannical government.

He went into hiding afterward, only to pop up two weeks later at an opposition vigil for anti-government protesters killed during demonstrations that rocked the country last year.

Then in December, a video posted on Perez's YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night.

They smash photos of Mr Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting "dictatorship" in Venezuela.

Perez says his team stole around 26 AK-103's and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols.</s>CARACAS: - Venezuelan officials closed in on self-identified rogue helicopter pilot Oscar Perez in a house in a poor neighbourhood outside Caracas on Monday, and the anti-government militant said in a video that he was negotiating with authorities.

Perez, a former police pilot, is wanted for using a stolen helicopter to lob grenades and shoot at government buildings in June as well as for breaking into a National Guard unit in December to steal weapons. President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government has described him as a "fanatic, extremist terrorist" and a manhunt has been under way for months.

Authorities appeared to finally track him down in the poor hillside neighbourhood of El Junquito.

"They've shot at us, they have us crouched down, but now we're negotiating with authorities," Perez, seemingly wearing a bulletproof jacket, said in a video posted on Instagram.

"Venezuela, don't lose hope... Now only you have power so that we can all be free," he added, staring into the camera and telling his children he loves them and hopes to see them again.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, some members of Maduro's government scoffed at Perez on Monday morning.

"What a coward now that he's caught like a rat!" tweeted Prisons Minister Iris Varela. "Where is the courage he had to attack military units, kill and injure officials and steal weapons?"

An action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond or Rambo-like figure on social media, Perez has added surreal twists to Venezuela's long-running political drama.

He rose to fame in June after allegedly hijacking a police helicopter, flying over Caracas' centre and firing shots at and lobbing grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court.

Perez claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to fight what he said was a tyrannical government.

He went into hiding afterward, only to pop up two weeks later at an opposition vigil for anti-government protesters killed during demonstrations that rocked the country last year.

Then in December, a video posted on Perez's YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night.

They smash photos of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting "dictatorship" in Venezuela. Perez says his team stole around 26 AK-103's and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - - Venezuelan officials closed in on self-identified rogue helicopter pilot Oscar Perez in a house in a poor neighborhood outside Caracas on Monday, and the anti-government militant said in a video that he was negotiating with authorities.

Perez, a former police pilot, is wanted for using a stolen helicopter to lob grenades and shoot at government buildings in June as well as for breaking into a National Guard unit in December to steal weapons. President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government has described him as a "fanatic, extremist terrorist" and a manhunt has been under way for months.

Authorities appeared to finally track him down in the poor hillside neighborhood of El Junquito.

"They've shot at us, they have us crouched down, but now we're negotiating with authorities," Perez, seemingly wearing a bulletproof jacket, said in a video posted on Instagram.

"Venezuela, don't lose hope... Now only you have power so that we can all be free," he added, staring into the camera and telling his children he loves them and hopes to see them again.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, some members of Maduro's government scoffed at Perez on Monday morning.

"What a coward now that he's caught like a rat!" tweeted Prisons Minister Iris Varela. "Where is the courage he had to attack military units, kill and injure officials and steal weapons?"

An action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond or Rambo-like figure on social media, Perez has added surreal twists to Venezuela's long-running political drama.

He rose to fame in June after allegedly hijacking a police helicopter, flying over Caracas' center and firing shots at and lobbing grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court.

Perez claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to fight what he said was a tyrannical government.

He went into hiding afterward, only to pop up two weeks later at an opposition vigil for anti-government protesters killed during demonstrations that rocked the country last year.

Then in December, a video posted on Perez's YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night.

They smash photos of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting "dictatorship" in Venezuela. Perez says his team stole around 26 AK-103's and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - - Self-identified rogue helicopter pilot Oscar Perez appeared with a bloody face in a series of Instagram videos on Monday, saying that he was surrounded by authorities who were shooting at him in a poor neighborhood outside Caracas.

Perez, a former police pilot, is wanted for using a stolen helicopter to lob grenades and shoot at government buildings in June as well as for breaking into a National Guard unit in December to steal weapons.

President Nicolas Maduro’s leftist government has described him as a “fanatic, extremist terrorist” and a manhunt has been under way for months. Some critics of Maduro have questioned whether his attacks were staged in cahoots with the government to justify a further crackdown on the opposition.

Authorities appeared to finally track him down in the poor hillside neighborhood of El Junquito. In a dozen dramatic videos posted on Instagram, Perez said authorities were firing at him with grenade launchers and snipers were outside.

“We’re wounded... they’re killing us!” said Perez, seemingly wearing a bulletproof vest, as he crouched down in what appeared to be a small house and gunshots were heard in the background.

“Venezuela, don’t lose hope... Now only you have power so that we can all be free,” he said in an earlier video, staring into the camera and telling his children he loves them and hopes to see them again.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, some members of Maduro’s government scoffed at Perez on Monday morning.

“What a coward now that he’s caught like a rat!” tweeted Prisons Minister Iris Varela. “Where is the courage he had to attack military units, kill and injure officials and steal weapons?”

An action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond or Rambo-like figure on social media, Perez has added surreal twists to Venezuela’s long-running political drama.

He rose to fame in June after allegedly hijacking a police helicopter, flying over Caracas’ center and firing shots at and lobbing grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court.

Perez claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to fight what he said was a tyrannical government.

He went into hiding afterward, only to pop up two weeks later at an opposition vigil for anti-government protesters killed during demonstrations that rocked the country last year.

Then in December, a video posted on Perez’s YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night.

They smash photos of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting “dictatorship” in Venezuela. Perez says his team stole around 26 AK-103’s and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols.
Two police officers and several gunmen are killed near Caracas in an operation to capture Óscar Pérez, the rogue pilot responsible for the Caracas helicopter incident on June 27, 2017, according to the Venezuelan government. Five people have also been arrested.