Brazilian security forces have moved into a major Rio de
Janeiro slum, after warning drug traffickers to surrender or face an assault.
Exchanges of fire were heard near the Alemao favela,
where hundreds of alleged drug traffickers are believed to be hiding.
Some 2,600 police and troops, backed by armoured vehicles
and helicopters, are taking part in the operation.
Within hours of moving in, police said they had taken
control of the favela.
“We won. We brought freedom to the residents of
Alemao,” said the head of Rio’s military police, Mario Sergio Duarte.
But other officers have said they had not taken over all
of the complex, and gunfire is still being heard in the area.
Dozens of people have been killed since the offensive
began a week ago.
Brazilian authorities say the operation aims to make the
city safer ahead of the World Cup in 2014 and Olympic Games in 2016.
Paratroopers, marines and members of elite police units
began to enter favela da Grota, part of the larger Alemao complex of slums in
northern Rio, early on Sunday.
“We’re entering the complex by four points. Alemao
is surrounded and other troops are entering by other areas,” the civil
police chief, Allan Turnowski, told Brazil’s Globo TV earlier.
“A helicopter is involved in the offensive and
another is filming the action, pointing out where drug traffickers are hiding.
The majority are already hiding inside their houses,” Mr Turnowski added.
A deadline given to drug gangs to give themselves up ran
out at sunset on Saturday, and police warned they would use violence if
necessary.
Reports suggest that only 30 of about 500 to 600 drug
traffickers in the area surrendered before the deadline.
The BBC’s Tim Vickery in Rio says flushing out the
heavily armed drug dealers is a complex task in a densely populated area, but
that so far they have encountered less resistance than expected.
But, our correspondent says, if the authorities are
winning this battle against the drug lords, they have yet to win the war.
Eduardo Paes, the city’s major, said the police were
“giving the city back to its citizens”.
“We will not give in until we have peace in Rio de
Janeiro,” he said.
The suspected traffickers fled to Alemao from the Vila
Cruzeiro favela after police took control of it earlier this week.
Since security forces launched the offensive, drug gangs
have fought back by firing on police and setting cars and buses ablaze.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International have
accused police of being heavy-handed.
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