Arson attack burns some 30 properties in Chile indigenous conflict zone

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Some 30 properties were burned on Tuesday in an arson attack in a part of southern Chile shaken by a long conflict between the government and members of the Mapuche ethnic group, authorities said.

The attack, which affected homes and 18 tourist shelters, occurred on the day that Chile's Congress debated and extended a state of emergency in four provinces of the southern regions of Bio Bio and La Araucania.