Police helicopter downed in Brazil by drug gang

Two Brazilian policemen have been killed after their helicopter came under fire from gang members in a slum below them and crashed. The pilot struggled to put the helicopter down safely after being shot in the leg by suspected drug-traffickers while flying over a Rio slum on Saturday, a police official said.

"The helicopter was hit by criminals and the pilot made a forced landing on a football pitch," Major Oderlei Santos of the military police said. The aircraft exploded shortly after touching down, leaving two officers stuck inside the burning wreckage.

The helicopter had been carrying six police officers as part of an operation in Morro dos Macacos, one of Rio's hundreds of slums, which is dominated by heavily armed drug gangs, police said.

• "Brazil 2009 Crime and Safety Report: Rio de Janeiro", Overseas Security Advisory council, 8/21/09.
• "To Rid Slums of Drug Gangs, Police in Rio Try War Tactics", Washington Post, 1/6/09.
• "Brazil's Powerful Prison Gang", Council on Foreign Relations, 9/6/06.