Five slain in Rio school, police blame death squad

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 6 (Reuters) Masked gunmen shot dead five people, including a teenager, during a children's party at a school soccer field on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro over the weekend, police said.

Police in the poor suburb of Nova Iguacu suspected a death squad of the execution-style shootings, which sowed panic among children and parents on Saturday night. Two years ago, Nova Iguacu was the scene of one of Rio's worst death-squad massacres.

''Judging by the way the people were killed the murders are certainly linked to an extermination group,'' an investigator, who did not want to be named, told Reuters yesterday. The groups are often made up of off-duty police or former soldiers and charge slum dwellers fees to kill off drug traffickers or thieves.

At least one of the victims had been involved in drug trafficking, according to police records.

The victims, aged between 17 and 30, were playing soccer on the school grounds while the party was in full swing at a nearby playground. All five were shot in the back and head.

''The shooters came through the area where the party was happening, wearing masks and hooded, like ninjas, and then did this barbaric act,'' the investigator said.

In March 2005, a death squad made up of off-duty policemen went on a rampage in Nova Iguacu and Queimados suburbs, killing 29 men, women and children at random. One policeman has been convicted of the massacre and several are awaiting trial.

The rise of similar vigilante groups triggered a wave of bloodshed last December, when drug gangs retaliated by attacking police posts and torching buses. It also contributes to daily bloodshed involving police, gangsters and vigilantes.

Yesterday, a 13-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet during a standoff between police and suspected drug traffickers in a slum called Monkeys' Mountain in Rio's northern part. Two suspects were shot dead, police said.

Reuters SRS VP0445