Two Mapuche die in clashes with Chilean security forces
Two members of Chile's indigenous Mapuche community died and three others were injured on Wednesday in clashes with security forces, the government said.
The fighting happened in Arauco province in the south, an area that has been under a state of emergency since last month amid escalating violence.
The incident occurred a day after President Sebastian Pinera said he had asked Congress to extend the state of emergency and the deployment of military forces in four provinces in the Biobio and La Araucania regions, including Arauco.
"I can confirm two deaths so far and I can confirm three injured who have arrived at different hospitals," Interior Minister Rodrigo Delgado said in the capital Santiago.
The minister said the deaths occurred during two attacks by hooded men near the town of Canete, 640 kilometers (400 miles) south of Santiago.
The deceased, two Mapuche community members aged 23 and 44, died of gunshot wounds, health officials said. The prosecutor's office reported the arrest of three people.
The state of emergency was adopted by Pinera on October 12, a date which commemorates the arrival of Spanish colonizers in the Americas and which has become riven by controversy.
The president then extended by 15 days the militarization of these regions, which have experienced an historical conflict between the Mapuche people -- Chile's largest indigenous community -- and the state.
