Nicaragua. At least 10 dead in attacks by government forces

At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in attacks by government forces on Sunday in several localities in southern Nicaragua. The violence that has rocked the country for three months has left at least 282 dead and some 2,000 wounded.

At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in Sunday government attacks on rebel-held villages in southern Nicaragua, a human rights group has announced. Meanwhile, paramilitaries opened fire on the vehicle aboard Abelardo Mata, a Nicaraguan bishop heading for Masaya, a besieged rebel city, Catholic Church officials said. and except

Bishop Mata is one of five Church dignitaries who mediate between the government and the opposition in Nicaragua. These are the latest episodes in the violence that has shaken the country for three months, the poorest in Central America, and have totaled at least 282 dead and some 2,000 injured.

Six civilians, including two minors, and four policemen were killed on Sunday in police and paramilitary police operations in Masaya, some 30 kilometers south of the capital Managua, and in the surrounding area (were also Niquinohomo and Catarina localities), according to the Nicaraguan Association of Human Rights.

Residents said that these detachments used shovels in the early hours of the day to destroy barricades, attacking their defenders. "They are going to destroy (the city of) Masaya, she is totally surrounded" told AFP Vilma Nunez, the president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh).

Masaya, epicenter of the protest

"We are attacked by the National Police and AK-47 armed police auxiliaries and machine guns in our neighborhood of Monimbo" in the south of the Masaya department, as for him, declared Alvaro Gomez, a resident. "We resist with homemade bombs and stones" he added. "The situation is serious" "We must open a corridor (humanitarian) to evacuate the wounded" for its part ensured Alvaro Leiva, secretary of the Nicaraguan Association of Human Rights

For its part, the official website El 19 Digital announced that Niquinohomo was now a "liberated territory of the dams" erected by the rebels. Masaya, the most rebellious city in Nicaragua, is the epicenter of the protest movement, whose students are spearheading, launched April 18 against the government of President Daniel Ortega.

The latter, 72 years old and head of his country since 2007, having already directed from 1979 to 1990, is accused of having harshly repressed demonstrations and set up with his wife Rosario Murillo , who holds the office of vice-president, a "dictatorship" marked by corruption and nepotism. His opponents demand early elections or his departure.