Brazilian police’s gun-battle with outlaws led to killing of several people in suburban area outside Rio de Janeiro, the largest city of Brazil. Brazilian police operation in the area after killing of a sergeant led to clashes with armed men and some of them were killed.
About eight bodies have been found, including some showing signs of torture, in a mangrove swamp outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil following a gun battle involving police.
Rio de Janeiro state police said officers were investigating the grisly scene alongside forensics experts in the poor favela neighbourhood of Salgueiro, about 35 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of the beach city.
Residents, who declined to be named, told Brazilian media outlets that they expect more bodies will turn up following an “intense” gun battle in the community.
“The bodies were all thrown in the mangrove swamp. They had signs of torture, people tossed one on top of the other. It has all the signs of a massacre,” a witness told Brazil’s Globo TV on Monday.
Police said clashes first erupted in the area on Saturday when a police sergeant on patrol was killed in an attack. Rio’s Police Special Operations Battalion, or BOPE, then launched a raid on Sunday.
Rights groups regularly accuse the elite force of indiscriminate killing and excessive violence in its hard-hitting operations against drug gangs in the favelas.
“The BOPE executed an operation in Salgueiro Sunday after receiving information that one of the individuals involved in Saturday’s attack was believed to be wounded and hiding in the area,” police said.
“The team came under attack near a mangrove swamp, leading to an intense confrontation.”
Rio’s military police did not respond to the locals’ accusations of officers being involved in torture or multiple killings.
