Deaths Reported in Ecuador Jungle Attack

The director of a foundation that works in Ecuador's rainforest says Amazon tribesmen apparently carried out a revenge attack and killed an undetermined number of people from a rival indigenous group that lives in voluntary isolation.

Foundation director Milagros Aguirre says Huaorani war party attacked a settlement of Taromenane, likely over the weekend. She says an unknown number of people were killed and at least two children were carried off in retaliation for the March 5 spearing deaths of a Huaorani couple.It is common for the region's tribes to kidnap foes' offspring as war trophies.

An Ecuadorean Justice Ministry official said Wednesday the Huaorani involved had refused to receive a government delegation trying to investigate the attack in the Pompeya region, about 120 miles east of Quito.