The chief of the Cinta Larga Tribe of Brazil said 29 diamond prospectors were killed because they trespassed on the reservation.

Chief Pio Cinta Larga said he did not order the attack. But he said tribal members will resort to killing to prevent mining on their lands.

"We are warriors. Before the white man came, none of the tribes here were friends," Cinta Larga said, according to the Associated Press. "We fought and killed each other, that is how we resolved things."

The 6.7-million-acre Roosevelt Reservation is home to the Cinta Larga and several other tribes. The reservation is believed to have the largest diamond reserve in South America.

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Miner massacre a warning: tribe (AP 4/22)