The World - News from April 1, 1988

Fifteen Brazilian Indians, including six children, were slain by a gang of timber thieves in a remote Amazon border region, a survivor said. The survivor, an Indian named Santo, said the massacre occurred earlier this week in the Indian area of Sao Leopoldo near the border with Colombia. An official of the Indigenous Missionary Council, linked to the Roman Catholic Church, confirmed the number of deaths and said that 21 others were injured. “There has not been a massacre of Indians on this scale for some years,” the official, Arlindo Leite, said. Police in Manaus said 14 men have been charged with the crime.