Jungle massacre

(First Edition)

Illegal goldminers shot and hacked to death 30 Yanomami Indian men, women and children in the Amazonian jungle, AFP reports from Brasilia.

The Brazilian Justice Minister, Mauricio Correa, and the Attorney General, Aristides Junqueira, headed for the Amazonian state of Roraima to investigate the slaughter and to ensure the protection of the survivors.

Wildcat gold and tin miners, known here as garimpeiros, killed 30 Indians - including 10 children whose throats were slit - after police tried to evict the miners from the Indians' mineral-rich tribal lands, authorities said.