Brazil: Police kill 13 in raid before PanAm Games

Rio De Janeiro, June 28: Brazilian police killed 13 suspected gangsters during five hours of gunbattles in a Rio de Janeiro slum in a show of force before next month's Pan American Games, a security official said.

More than 1,300 policemen backed by armored cars invaded the Alemao slum, or favela yesterday, in a raid aimed at arresting drug traffickers and seizing drugs and weapons.

Gangsters erected barricades and created oil slicks to prevent the armored cars from climbing the steep streets, witnesses said. The gunfire was intense and numerous grenade explosions were heard, Agencia Estado news reported.

A state security spokesman said police killed 13 suspects during the fighting, revising an earlier estimate that 18 had been killed. Ten people were wounded, including one policeman and six bystanders hit by stray bullets.

It was a particularly bloody day even by Rio's standards and the violence reinforced concerns about public security during the Pan American Games, which start on July 13.

Rio, the sixth-largest city in the Western Hemisphere, will host 5,500 athletes from across the Americas, as well as an estimated 800,000 tourists. It is also a venue for the global series of Live Earth rock concerts on July 7.

Officials hope the events will showcase the city's legendary charms instead of exposing its rampant crime.

'Society Has To Choose'

About 1,200 state policemen backed by 150 troopers from a special national force took part in yesterday's raid.

Many shops shut their doors and parents rushed to take schoolchildren home after the gunfire started. Police withdrew after five hours but two squads needed to be rescued by other units after they were pinned down.

State Security Secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame said police would remain in the favela to prevent gangsters from regrouping and regaining control.

''Society has to choose whether people want no gunfire in certain favelas, but at the mercy of drug traffickers, or whether people want the state to expel drug traffickers by force,'' Beltrame said.

Police arrested four suspects and seized two heavy machine guns, 40 kg of cocaine and 30 kg of marijuana.

Many of the favelas in the city of 11 million people are controlled by drug gangs and police often only enter in military-style invasions.

Human rights groups frequently criticise the tactics of the police, saying they shoot indiscriminately and label fatalities as ''suspected traffickers.'' The groups also accuse authorities of victimizing the poor people who live in the favelas.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned last week that if violence in the slums spilled into the Pan American Games, foreign investment in Brazil could be hurt.

Rio has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with a toll comparable to some war zones. At least 1,800 people were killed in the first four months of 2007 in the metropolitan area, official figures show.

Reuters>