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RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian police shot dead five suspected gang members in a Rio de Janeiro slum on Saturday and yesterday exchanged fire with drug traffickers who tried to attack a police station.
The shootouts followed a wave of bloodshed unleashed by drug gangs on Friday, when 18 people died, including seven passengers burned alive on a bus torched by assailants.
Heavy security will safeguard the New Year Copacabana beach party.
- REUTERS
