Caracas, January 16 (RHC)-- Venezuelan authorities have confirmed that the group responsible for an armed attack on several government buildings in 2017 has been "dismantled after a confrontation with the security forces."

"These terrorists, who were heavily armed with high-caliber weapons, opened fire on the officials responsible for their capture and attempted to detonate a vehicle loaded with explosives," said a statement from the country's Interior Ministry on Monday.

The statement added that two officials from the Bolivarian National Police were killed and five were seriously injured in the raid, while an unspecified number of "terrorist cell" members were killed, and five were captured.

"We want to congratulate the performance of all the police and military officials who participated in the operations to neutralize this terrorist group," added the ministry statement.

A former elite police officer and a pilot, Oscar Perez has been on the run since June 2017 when he and several unidentified accomplices used the aircraft to throw four grenades at the Supreme Tribunal in the capital Caracas, before shooting at the interior ministry with firearms.

Perez posted several videos of himself online on Monday, saying that he was surrounded by authorities who were shooting at him in a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of Caracas

Venezuela's government has described him as a "fanatic, extremist terrorist" and a manhunt has been under way for months.

Authorities appeared to have finally tracked him down in the poor hillside.