Brazilian police killed at least nine suspects during operations against drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, authorities said Wednesday. Police inspector Rodrigo Oliveira said 300 police participated in the early morning raids that killed nine, according to a report on the website of the O Globo newspaper. A police spokeswoman told the Associated Press at least nine and possibly 10 suspects were killed. She said information was still arriving from the area where the gunfights took place. The police action came one day after hundreds of police occupied a slum in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, after a night of shootings and car burnings. The violence was sparked by the alleged police killing of a suspect. Police said three officers were shot in the Sao Paulo violence, and local residents reported at least two civilians were injured. Last year, a United Nations report said that police kill an average of three people a day in Rio de Janeiro.
