Gun battle kills 5 in Rio, government under fire

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 6 (Reuters) Five people were killed and four were wounded in a gun battle today when Brazilian police stormed a Rio de Janeiro slum searching for a local drug lord.

The violence erupted when police, backed up by a helicopter and an armored vehicle, raided the sprawling Alemao slum on the outskirts of this crime-ridden city.

Drug traffickers opened fire on police, killing one officer and wounding another. Four suspects were killed and three bystanders were also hit in the shootout that ensued.

It was the latest in a string of killings plaguing Rio, where hillside shantytowns overlook plush apartment buildings with views of the Atlantic ocean.

A 13-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet during a slum raid on Monday. Residents say she was shot by police.

The violence has helped fuel a fierce debate about how to rein in crime in Latin America's largest country.

Rio's murder rate is one of the highest in Latin America.

Drug gangs control many slums, fighting each other and police almost daily.

Last week, Rio's state governor said police brutality had to stop and that security forces were revising their rough tactics, including poorly-planned military-style raids that often cause the loss of innocent lives.

Police kill about 1,000 suspects a year in Rio and human rights group often accuse them of summary executions.

Rights group Amnesty International this week criticized the government for not doing enough to stop the bloodshed and called on it to fight police brutality, discrimination, corruption and rights violations in Brazil's justice system.

The US State Department echoed those criticisms on Tuesday in its annual human rights report, saying unlawful killings by state police were ''widespread'' in Brazil.

Rio suffered a shocking wave of bloodshed last December, when drug gangs attacked police posts and torched buses, burning seven passengers alive in one case.

Reuters SRS VP0230