Rio police find eight corpses, suspect turf war

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 4 (Reuters) Brazilian police found eight bodies inside two abandoned cars on the outskirts of crime-ridden Rio de Janeiro and suspected a turf war between drug gangs was behind the massacre.

The corpses of young people apparently aged between 20 and 25 had signs of torture and bullet wounds typical of executions.

''According to the information we have, they are drug traffickers involved in a local turf war,'' Rio police Sgt. Luis Bensaba told Reuters.

Police believe the slain belonged to a gang from a slum known as Monkeys' Hill, which has been fighting a rival criminal group from the Sao Joao slum over drugs sales territory.

Police said they reinforced security in the area fearing new clashes between the gangs.

Execution-type killings are typical not only of gang wars, but also of many death squads active in Rio de Janeiro. In March 2005, a death squad comprising off-duty police officers slaughtered 29 innocent people in Rio's worst massacre.

REUTERS PDS RK2110