At Least 8 Killed In Brutal Assault On Ebola Aid Workers In Guinea

The group had been trying to educate locals on the risk of the virus in the remote southeast of the country. The dead are believed to include journalists, health workers, and a pastor.

Eight bodies have been found following an attack on an education team working to warn people of the risks of the Ebola virus in southeastern Guinea, Reuters reported.

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Speaking to Reuters via telephone, government spokesperson Damantang Albert Camara said: "The eight bodies were found in the village latrine. Three of them had their throats slit."

Earlier Guinea's prime minister, Mohamed Saïd Fofana, said in an earlier televised address that seven bodies out of nine missing people had been found.

He added that six people were arrested in the wake of the incident, which took place in the village of Wome, located near Nzerekore in the southeast of the country, on Tuesday.

Ebola had first been identified in the area in March this year. Authorities have faced a long battle against widespread misinformation, fear, and stigma among the population that has hampered efforts to contain the virus.

The New York Times reported that the delegation had traveled to the village on Tuesday, before being set upon by a rock-throwing mob.

Several officials managed to escape and sent an alert to colleagues in the Guinean capital Conakry, who then sent a search party.

Damantang said, "They went on a mission to try to sensitize the local population about Ebola, but unfortunately they were met with hostility by people throwing rocks."

The delegation included a sub-prefect and regional health director. Also in the group was a pastor "who came to offer solace, as well as several journalists from communal radio stations," Damantang said.

"Among the only survivors we found of those who tried to hide in the bush was the 5-year-old son of the sub-prefect, who was left hiding in the wild."

The current West African outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 2,600 people across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Earlier today, Sierra Leone put a three-day curfew in place in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.