Brazil’s army deploys in Rio after favela shootout

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian soldiers deployed by armored vehicle, truck and helicopter Friday to reinforce police after heavily armed drug traffickers rampaged through the country’s biggest favela, spraying bullets and terrifying locals.

Intense exchanges of gunfire between police and criminals began early morning inside the Rocinha favela, where approximately 70,000 people live in a teeming cluster of small houses on hillsides overlooking wealthy western Rio.

Amateur footage broadcast on Globo television showed men with a variety of rifles and pistols firing volley after volley in a densely built-up area.

A bus was set ablaze near a major road tunnel underneath the favela, and the main highway was temporarily shut down by police, causing traffic snarls on one of the city’s main east-west arteries. Gunshots could be heard from inside Rocinha and black smoke rose from the upper section.

As the situation spun out of control, Defense Minister Raul Jungmann agreed to pleas from civilian authorities for help, ordering 950 troops onto the streets.

Soldiers arrived soon after in convoys of trucks guarded by armored personnel carriers. Globo also showed troops abseiling from a helicopter on a hilltop.

“We will help to secure the region, control traffic and control airspace, with the goal of freeing up police units to do more specifically police work,” General Mauro Sinott told journalists. — AFP