Missionary killed in Amazon state

An American missionary has been shot to death in the Amazon state of Para, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.

Dorothy Stang, 74, was accompanying a group of peasants to a meeting with other local workers when they were attacked near the jungle town of Anapu, about 2100km north of Sao Paulo.

Police said she was shot three times in the face. Two suspects had been taken into custody.

Stang had lived in Brazil since the early 1960s. She was an outspoken critic of efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear the Amazon rainforest.