Three former leaders of the Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path"), a militant group that has operated in Peru since 1980, have been indicted in a U.S. federal court, according to Newsweek.

The U.S. government charged the men, Florindo Eleuterio Flores-Hala, Victor Quispe-Palomino and Jorge Quispe-Palomino, with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; narco-terrorism conspiracy; and two counts of possession and use of a firearm, the legal filings show.

The U.S. is trying the case in at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, despite the fact that Flores-Hala is detained in Peru and the other two men are on the run in that country.

In 1997, the U.S. Secretary of State labeled Sendero Luminoso a terrorist organization. In the 1980s and 1990s, the group tried to overthrow the Peruvian government and murdered thousands in the country, news reports show.

The federal indictment says that Flores-Hala and Victor Quispe-Palomino both led separate factions of the group, and says Jorge Quispe-Palomino was a vital cog in the operation, Newsweek reports.

"These defendants are leaders of a murderous paramilitary organization, and they themselves ordered ambushes that killed nearly two dozen Peruvian soldiers and police officers," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, according to Reuters. "The product of the Peruvian cocaine trade they plied and protected sometimes ends up for sale in the United States."

Those ambushes go back to 2005, when the group attacked a police convoy and killed eight officers, and 2009, when they killed 15 soldiers, Reuters reported.

It is estimated that Senderos Luminoso is responsible for somewhere around 69,000 deaths since 1980.

It remains unclear if and when Flores-Hala will be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, but the indictment makes clear that one of the charged trio will be brought to the country, according to Newsweek.