The Guinean government has announced the villagers in southern Guinea killed eight health workers and journalists who were educating people on the Ebola virus. Authorities have arrested six suspected and the government pledges to find any other culprits as Ebola continues to spread.

The eight health workers and journalists had arrived in the southern village of Wome when they were last heard from. The Guinean government has now discovered the group was killed by villagers, according to the BBC.

The group arrived in the town and was soon attacked with rocks by the villagers, who believed they were bringing the disease with them or were trying to trick them. A reporter from the group, who escaped, reported back that she could hear villagers looking for them while she hid.

Some of the group's remains were discovered inside the septic tank of the town's school. The government had sent a delegation headed by the health minister to investigate the group's disappearance but they could not reach the village immediately because the bridge leading to it had been blocked.

The Los Angeles Times reports the assault happened on Tuesday after the health workers began spraying and disinfecting the village. The government reports that 21 others were wounded. The group of doctors and journalists are believed to have been killed by beatings and machetes.

"It's very sad and hard to believe, but they were killed in cold blood by the villagers," said government spokesman Albert Damantang Camara.

Local police officer Richard Haba added that villagers believed Ebola "is nothing more than an invention of white people to kill black people."

The government has said they have six suspects in custody, according to AFP, and one body has already been buried. The remaining seven bodies will be buried in the nearby city of N'Zerekore.

"Everyone involved in these murders will be hunted down and brought before the courts to be sanctioned under the law," said Camara.

The news of the killings comes as the outbreak continues to worsen. The World Health Organization announced the number of deaths has reached 2,630, according to Reuters.