Ten suspected drug traffickers were killed in shootouts that broke out when police raided four shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro today, police and Brazilian government sources said.
Police attacked the four slums using armed vehicles and a helicopter in search of drugs, weapons and stolen cars.
A woman was taken to a hospital after being hit by a stray bullet. Police said the ten people killed were all presumed drug traffickers.
Daily clashes between police and heavily armed drugs gangs that control hundreds of mostly lawless slums make Rio one of the world's most dangerous major cities.
Police routinely say that those killed in their raids are suspected drug traffickers, but human rights groups have accused them of brutality and summary executions.