Many killed in Paraguay clashes

[1]

At least 16 people were killed and dozens hurt Friday in clashes that erupted when police tried to evict landless peasants who were squatting at a nature preserve in Paraguay, officials said.

Interior Minister Carlos Filizzola told reporters that seven police and at least nine peasants had been killed in the incident in Curuguaty, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital Asuncion.

Another official in Curuguaty earlier said as many as 80 people had been injured in the melee. Earlier, the death toll had been put at six.

Police had arrived at the privately-owned nature preserve in Curuguaty to evict the peasants when the clashes began.

"The peasants have high-caliber weapons like M16 rifles," Walter Gomez, a police official in Canindeyu department, told television network 13.

Gomez said some of the hundreds of peasants involved in the incident 'handled weapons very well'.

"They shot cleanly to kill us. This is a critical situation," he said.

In a brief statement, President Fernando Lugo expressed his "absolute support" for the police and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

Lugo summoned his interior and defense ministers, as well as the head of the armed forces, to assess the situation. The country's senate met in emergency session to debate whether to declare a state of emergency in the area.