Brazil launches operation to drive illegal miners from Yanomami lands

Special forces destroy aircraft and seize weapons in effort to protect largest Indigenous reserve from mining mafias

The Brazilian government has launched its campaign to drive tens of thousands of illegal miners from the country's largest Indigenous reserve, with special-forces environmental operatives destroying aircraft and seizing weapons and boats during an operation deep in the Amazon's Yanomami territory.

Members of Brazil's environmental protection agency Ibama - with support from the Indigenous agency Funai and the newly created ministry for Indigenous peoples - launched the long-awaited operation on Monday, with troops establishing a base along the Uraricoera river. Wildcat tin ore and gold miners use the waterway - as well as dozens of illegal airstrips - to reach and supply their illegal outposts in Yanomami lands.