Mashco Piro tribe uses bows and arrows to attack loggers in Peru’s Amazon

Members of one of the world’s most secluded tribes in the Peruvian Amazon used bows and arrows to attack loggers.

Members of one of the world’s most secluded tribes — which is known for firing arrows at outsiders who get too close — attacked loggers in a fight that left at least one person injured.

Mashco Piro ethnic group used bows and arrows during the attack as illegal logging is believed to have taken place on their territory in late July.

The reclusive Mashco Piro tribe used bows and arrows to attack loggers suspected of encroaching on their territory in the Amazon. Picture: Survival International

Photos emerged of the uncontacted tribe searching for food on a beach in the Peruvian Amazon in June. Picture: Survival International

Teresa Mayo, Peru researcher for Survival International, an NGO that supports Indigenous groups, said the clash occurred in an area of rainforest that is not formally protected by the government, although it is considered to be Mashco Piro territory, the Daily Mail reported.

It comes as rare photos emerged of the uncontacted tribe searching for food on a beach in the Peruvian Amazon.

The tribe has been seen coming out of the rainforest more frequently in search of food. Picture: Survival International

Members of the Mashco Piro tribe, believed to be the biggest group of indigenous people living with no outside contact, were spotted near the Las Piedras River a few kilometres from tree-cutting projects in Southeastern section of the country, the Indigenous rights advocacy group Survival International said.

“This is irrefutable evidence that many Mashco Piro live in this area, which the government has not only failed to protect, but actually sold off to logging companies,” local Indigenous organisation Fenamad’s President Alfredo Vargas Pio said.

The tribe emerged in search of food, near the remote villages of Monte Salvado and Puerto Nuevo, in recent weeks – and Pio fears fights will break out between loggers and the Indigenous people.

Despite the Mashco Piro tribe’s seclusion, they have had limited contact with outsiders — and much of it was violent. Picture: Survival International

Loggers could also bring to the area new diseases, which threaten to wipe out the tribe, he said.

Indigenous advocates are demanding authorities yank certification from the nearby logging company Canales Tahuamanu, which building roads inside Mashco Piro territory, according to Survival International.

The company has been granted permission to log on the jungle land since 2002 and its activity now is now sprawled out over 193 square miles, The Washington Post reported in May.

The firm also has a history of clashing with local tribes, the paper reported.

The extraordinary new images were released in July. Picture: Survival International

Despite the Mashco Piro tribe’s seclusion, they have had limited contact with outsiders – and much of it was violent.

In recent years they have been seen firing arrows at tourist boats and even fired a “warning arrow” at a park ranger in Manu National Park.

The violence reached its apex, however, when tribe members killed a member of another tribe, Nicolas “Shaco” Flores, who had been trying to contact them.

However, some members of the tribe have emerged from the forest to try and trade for machetes and food with residents of nearby villages and Christian proselytisers.

- with the New York Post