Two policemen were killed and two others were wounded when their helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers in a day of running battles in the slums of Northern Rio, said military police commander Mario Sergio Duarte.

 

Nine buses were also set on fire in other neighborhoods close to "Morro dos Macacos" favela, in retaliation for a police operation aimed at controlling heavy gun battles between rival drug gangs in the area.

 

Drug traffickers in the neighbouring "Morro do Sao Jao" favela had tried to invade Morro dos Macacos and seize control there, officials told reporters.

 

After the helicopter crashed and exploded shortly after landfall, a new gunbattle erupted between the gangs and over a 100 policemen, who were backed by Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE) troops and an armored vehicle.

 

The crash happened about five miles South West of one of the zones where some of the facilities for the Olympics will be located.

 

Rio's win to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the first ever to be held in South America, is a serious challenge for the city in terms of security.

 

Some 6,000 people were murdered here in 2008 alone.

 

Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral admitted the security challenges cannot be cured "by magic in the short term."
 
But he said that money is being poured into programmes to reduce crime and that authorities are prepared to mount an overwhelming security presence at the sporting events to ensure safety.

 

He said: "We told the International Olympic Committee that this won't be an easy thing, and they know that.
 

"We can put 40,000 people on the streets - federal, state and municipal police - and pull off the event."

 

Rio's Mayor, Eduardo Paes, said it was "inadmissible that Rio be confronted by delinquents in this way" and threw his weight behind police attempts to control the violence.

 

Oderlei Santos, spokesman for Rio's military police, said: "Our operations will only cease when these criminals are captured, arrested or are killed in combat."

 

Santos promised that things would improve before the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup, which Brazil is also staging.

 

He said: "We have a lot of time before the World Cup and the Olympics and before then we will certainly arrest a lot of criminals."

 

Rio held the Pan-American Games in 2007 without major incidents, deploying more than 15,000 specially trained officers on the streets to keep the peace.

 

Paes is due in London on Monday where he will be one of the key-note speakers at the Global Sports Industry Congress.

 

 

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