30 gunned down in Rio
01/04/2005 16:08  - (SA)  

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Rio De Janeiro - Thirty people, including three children, were killed by eight gunmen in two cars driving around northern Rio de Janeiro suburbs on Thursday night, a local official told CBN radio.

The group of shooters first killed 15 people in the Nova Iguazu neighbourhood at about 20:40, followed by another 15 an hour later in Queimados, said the Secretary of Security of Rio de Janeiro state Marcelo Itagiba.

He said the group appeared to be "made up of police officers".

Human rights groups have in the past accused police death squads of killing street kids.

"It all happened so quickly," a witness told TV Globo News.

In Nova Iguazu the gunmen "began firing on six people inside a bar and then on another nine people in the vicinity", said another witness whose son was among the victims.

Itagiba said the drive-by slaughter may have been revenge killings for the arrest of 15 police officers in the murder of two people in nearby Caixias.

- AFP

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