The home of a Mapuche Indian leader in Chile was destroyed in a suspicious blaze Sunday in an area ravaged by forest fires, which officials say may have been caused by radical indigenous activists.
Police said hooded assailants also torched the home of a retired military officer and fired at officers in the forest region of Araucania, as seven firefighters killed there last week in a massive wildfire were buried Sunday.
Jose Santos Millao, who represents the Mapuche Indians on the National Corporation for Indigenous Development, told reporters his house had "no electricity," making the source of the blaze suspicious. No one was hurt.
An unusually hot and dry start to the Chilean summer has seen more than 50 wildfires, fanned by high winds, burn down scores of homes and destroy some 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres) of woodland and brush over the past 10 days.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera invoked controversial anti-terror legislation after the seven firefighters - private contractors for forestry company Mininco - were killed on Thursday in a mountain forest near Carahue.
