Rio gunfight, police raid kill 19

At least 19 people were killed Tuesday in poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, some in a shootout between rival gangs and others during a police raid, Brazilian police said.

The killings occurred a day after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to speed the deployment of a special federal security force around the city.

At least 13 people were killed in the Morro da Mineira favela, or shantytown, which was raided by police armed with assault rifles trying to quell a prolonged shootout between rival gangs. Most of the dead were believed to be drug runners killed by members of rival gangs, police said.

“It wasn’t a planned raid; we had to go in and intervene because rival gangs were engaged in conflict and we had to establish order,” a police official said.

A resident of the favela and a passenger on a bus were wounded by stray bullets. The shootout prompted authorities to close key roads into Rio’s wealthy southern district, trapping residents in their cars.

Police said they killed six suspected drug runners in a separate shootout next to the Rebu favela.

Human rights groups frequently complain that security forces in the drug-ravaged city are overly violent.

But police say they are terrified of being outgunned by the heavily armed gangs that control the cocaine trade in the city.

Lula is weighing a request from Rio’s governor to send army troops to stop the escalating violence in the city.

The troops would complement 500 members of a special federal police force deployed around the city, as well as 400 more slated to arrive in 10 days.