Days before the start of Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous carnival, two children have been killed and police were forced to close three major highways in an outbreak of gun violence.

It was the third time that police had closed a major highway in the city in a week. Nine people were also killed between Friday and Sunday, the G1 news website reported.

The latest violence began in the early hours of Tuesday morning when a three-year-old girl was shot dead after an armed gang opened fire on her parents’ car, local media reported. Her parents were injured but survived.

Later on Tuesday, police closed three major highways, including the Linha Vermelha (Red Line) that connects Rio’s international airport to the city centre.



Separately, a 13-year old boy was killed when gunfights broke out during a police operation at the huge Maré favela, which is home to about 140,000 people next to all three highways.

“Today it was chaos here,” said Vítor Santiago, 32, who lives in Maré.

Residents described how gunfire broke out early on Tuesday morning. “I heard a lot of shots, explosions. I did not put my head outside the house because I was terrified,” said Simone Lauar, 40, a cook.

A cellphone video circulating on WhatsApp showed motorists cowering on the asphalt as gunfire rang out. “This is the city we live in,” said the man filming.

Another showed black-clad police taking cover during an intense gun battle and an armoured police vehicle moving in.

TV Globo’s news channel cut live to helicopter footage showing armed men on a favela street. One pointed a rifle at the camera above him.

“Wow,” said the presenter, before describing the death of the three-year old as “another case of how the city is hostage to the criminals”.

Alberto Aleixo, from the not-for-profit group Redes da Maré – Maré Networks – said conflict in the area had been worsening recently.



“Violence is increasing – as much between armed groups as from police operations,” Aleixo said.

Two rival drug gangs – the Red Command and Third Pure Command – battle each other and police for control of Maré, with a smaller area controlled by militia – criminal groups of former and serving police and firefighters.

From 2014-2015, the area was occupied by the Brazilian army, but the occupation failed to bring peace.

In a new report, Redes da Maré said there were 41 police operations in 2017, leading to schools being closed for 35 days and 42 deaths.

Twice last week, police closed one of the same highways – the Linha Amarela, or Yellow Line, which connects to the west of the city – after violence broke out at the Cidade de Deus favela, or City of God.

Three men were killed, one of whom was described by police as a gang leader.

Carnival officially begins on Saturday.