01/04/2005

Thirty people gunned down in Brazil

Thirty people were killed, including three children, by eight gunmen in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro last night.

The crime was allegedly committed by a death squad made up of police officers who killed 15 people in the Nova Iguazu neighbourhood, followed by another 15, an hour later in the district of Queimados.

The killings are believed to be in retaliation for the arrest of eight state paramilitary police officers in connection with a murder investigation earlier this week.

Witnesses told reporters that the gunmen pulled up and opened fire, leaving victims no time to escape.

New reports quoted one witness, Creuza Regina, as saying: “It was very quick. I got up to my house and went down the hallway when I heard a rain of gunfire.”

The massacre is said to be the worst in Rio de Janeiro since 1993 when 21 people were killed by police in the Vigario Geral shantytown.

(CD/SP)

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