Police helicopter downed in Brazil

Two policemen killed after gunfire from gang in Rio shantytown brings aircraft down.

helicopter brazil drug gangs fire
The police helicopter shot down from above the Morro dos Macacos favela in Rio de Janeiro [AFP]

The helicopter had been carrying six police officers as part of an operation in Morro dos Macacos, one of Rio’s hundreds of slums, which is dominated by heavily armed drug gangs, police said.

Gang violence

Police were responding to gun fire between rival drug gangs nearby before the incident happened shortly after dawn.

After the crash, a fresh gun battle broke out as more than one hundred policemen backed by armoured vehicles and special forces tried to regain control of the area.

Urban violence is widespread in Rio, where nearly one-third of the two-million-strong population lives in favelas.

The incident comes just weeks after the city was awarded the 2016 summer Olympics.

Source: News Agencies