Seven found dead after Rio de Janeiro police operation

Rio de Janeiro:  Seven people have been found dead in a Rio de Janeiro suburb after what police said was an operation against armed criminals but locals called a massacre.

The security services said an elite police unit and army troops raided the Complexo do Salgueiro favela in Rio's Sao Goncalo suburb at dawn on Saturday.

The officers, supported by three armored vehicles, "detected armed resistance on the part of the criminals," a statement from the security services said.

After the raid, which netted a rifle, seven pistols and other items, the local homicide department opened investigations into "the deaths of seven people following the action at the site."

Six of the seven have been identified, the police said, but they provided no names or any details about how and when they died.

Local media quoted inhabitants of the favela -- the term for Rio's many poor, largely unregulated neighborhoods, where drug trafficking is rife -- as saying the police opened fire on a crowd attending a street party.

Globo television quoted witnesses saying they had seen masked police close off the streets before the shooting began.