RIO DE JANEIRO – At least 2,000 police officers patrolled this coastal city Sunday and Brazilian officials pledged to host a violence-free 2016 Olympics despite bloody drug gang shootouts that left 14 people dead.
Source: AP
- An hourslong firefight between rival gangs Saturday in one of the city's slums killed at least 12 people, injured six and saw a police helicopter shot down and eight buses set on fire.
- Police said Sunday that they killed two other suspected drug traffickers in overnight clashes near the Morro dos Macacos ("Monkey Hill") slum where the gangs fought for territory a day earlier. But the area was largely peaceful.
- Two officers died and four were injured Saturday when bullets from the gang battle ripped into their helicopter hovering overhead, forcing it into a fiery crash landing on a soccer field. Officials said they did not know if the gangs targeted the helicopter or it was hit by stray bullets.
- Gunfire on the ground killed 10 suspected gunmen and wounded two bystanders.
- Authorities said the violence only toughened their resolve to improve security ahead of the Olympics and before 2014, when Brazil will host the World Cup soccer tournament with key games in Rio, the country's second-biggest city.
- Rio state Public Safety Director Jose Beltrame told reporters that the violence was limited to a specific area of the city of 6 million and "is not a problem throughout all of Rio de Janeiro."
- He said authorities will follow through with promised efforts to reduce crime.
- "We proved to the Olympic Committee that we have plans and proposals for Rio de Janeiro," Beltrame said. "We proved that our current policy not only consists of going into battle, it also consists of keeping the peace."
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