Show caption A police car blocks a road, where policemen faced a gang after attempting an armed bank robbery in Guararema, near São Paulo, Brazil, on Thursday. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters Brazil Brazilian police kill 11 alleged robbers in ATM heist shootout Gang tried to simultaneously blow up two bank machines

Assailants took hostages and fought running gun battle Reuters in São Paulo Thu 4 Apr 2019 21.21 BST Share on Facebook

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Police in São Paulo state have shot and killed 11 assailants who were preparing to simultaneously blow up ATMs at two branches early on Thursday, authorities said.

São Paulo state’s public security secretariat said in a statement that about 25 suspects were involved in the attempts to blow up the machines to get at the cash inside, a common type of crime in Brazil. Along with the 11 killed, another two men were arrested. No money was stolen.

One of the banks was located next to a police station.

“These criminals were prepared for war,” said Alvaro Batista Camilo, head of São Paulo state’s police force.

The would-be robbers drove up to the banks in five armored cars and were armed with high-caliber rifles and body armor, authorities said.

Police arrived at the banks and confronted the assailants, who fled and led police on a rolling shootout through the city of Guararema, located about 60km (37 miles) east of central metropolitan São Paulo.

The suspects broke into a home at one point and held the residents hostage, “but police managed to free them”, the note from the secretariat read, without providing more details.

No police were injured during the operation. It was not clear if any suspects were in custody.

Police commander Mário Silva told the Globo TV that the criminal group was under surveillance, and that “we already knew they were going to carry out an attack in this area”.

“We did not know exactly where the attack would take place,” Silva said. “But we increased police forces in the area over the past 24 hours.”

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has publicly called for Brazil’s already lethal police force to carry out more killings of suspected criminals, praised the action.

“Eleven criminals were killed and not a single innocent person was injured. Great work!” Bolsonaro tweeted.