Truckers block highways in Chile after attacks

Hundreds of Chilean truck drivers began a strike on Thursday, demanding better security conditions in the country's southern region of La Araucanía.

The action was called by Chile's National Transport Confederation after men allegedly fired at a truck and injured a nine-year-old girl whose father was driving in the region last weekend.

The striking drivers blocked major highways, causing large traffic jams with only private cars and trucks hauling basic necessity items able to pass.

They claim Indigenous groups are attacking their vehicles along the highway and hooded people have burnt forest machinery and lorries in recent months.

The Indigenous groups are demanding their ancestral lands be returned to them.

"They forced us to go out to the highway," said Ivan Mateluna, President of the Valparaiso Truck Owners Federation, who participated in the blockade, blaming the government for long ignoring their pleas for security.

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