Rio de Janeiro, March 1 (IANS) At least six suspected criminals have been killed in a shootout with police in a suburb in Brazil’s former capital Rio de Jeneiro, a police official has said. The shootout occurred Friday in the city suburb of Todos los Santos, when the suspected criminals tried to escape from the police who had surrounded them, quoting a military police spokesperson Spain’s EFE news agency reported Saturday.

They were a gang of eight people, and according to police, six of them were killed in the gun battle while two managed to escape.

The police also recovered five handguns and some ammunition from the site.

None of the local residents were injured in the encounter, the police said.

The police believe the eight men belonged to a gang of drug traffickers that operates in the shantytown of Morro dos Macacos.

Clashes between rival drug-trafficking gangs and between these gunmen and the “militias” have made Rio de Janeiro one of Brazil’s most violent cities.