foolsgold
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Brazil will deploy federal troops to help quell a surge in violent crime by drug traffickers.
A police officer takes up position during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014. Brazil will deploy federal troops to Rio de Janeiro to help quell a surge in violent crime following attacks by drug traffickers on police posts in three slums on the north side of the city, government officials said on Friday.
Less than three months before Rio welcomes tens of thousands of foreign soccer fans for the World Cup, the attacks cast new doubts on government efforts to expel gangs from slums using a strong police presence. The city will host the Olympics in 2016.
A police officer takes up position during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
Violence is on the rise again in the slums ringing Rio that were "pacified" in recent years by police occupations as drug traffickers seek to reconquer their lost territory.
Black vultures stand on a goalpost at a soccer field at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
An estimated 600,000 foreign soccer fans will arrive in Brazil for the World Cup in June. Seven games will be played in Rio, including the tournament's July 13 final, in the legendary Maracaná stadium located a few miles from the Manguinhos slums.
Police officers take up positions during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014. Less than three months before Rio welcomes tens of thousands of foreign soccer fans for the World Cup, the attacks cast new doubts on government efforts to expel gangs from slums using a strong police presence.
A boy plays on his tablet outside his house at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
The use of excess force by the police has angered residents and led to criticism from international human right groups of alleged abuses.
Brazilians were shocked last week by images of a woman who was shot and then dragged along the street by a police car when her body fell out of the trunk following a shootout in a slum.
A police officer takes up position during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
To date, 36 Rio slum areas have been pacified with more than 9,000 police patrolling neighbourhoods where 1.5 million people live. Initial success in evicting the gangs was applauded, but the police operations have been criticized for merely displacing crime to other slums.
A fruit vendor stands at his kombi van at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
A police officer takes up position during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
A police officer takes up position during an operation at the Mare slums complex in Rio de Janeiro March 25, 2014.
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