Rio hit by new wave of gang violence

A new wave of criminal attacks hit Rio de Janeiro on Saturday after gang-related street violence left 18 people dead and 30 other injured two days earlier.

Gang members clashed with police in a highway connecting downtown Rio with towns in the metropolitan region of the state.

In the western part of the city, a public pavement was damaged by a grenade explosion. And police then exchanged fire with gangsters who were trying to storm into a precinct building. A homeless man was shot in the shootout.

In retaliation, State Police raided Rio's main slums often controlled by drug traffickers, and five drug dealers were killed in the operation.

In the metro region, a bus was burnt, but no one was injured. Bus companies refused to operate at night after gangs set fire to nine buses on Thursday.

On Saturday morning, three gangsters broke into a police precinct in Seropedica, a small town near Rio, where they tied up the only police officer on duty and stole all weaponry, including machine guns and ammunition.

In May, similar attacks by an organized crime group in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, resulted in the deaths of nearly 200 people, including some 40 police officers and dozens of gang members.

Source: Xinhua