Brazil
A criminal investigation followed the discovery of nine bodies, including seven charred bodies
After nine bodies, including three children, were found in the state of Bahia on Monday, a “massacre” is being considered related to settling scores between rival drug-trafficking gangs.
Updated
A soldier on patrol in Salvador, Bahia state in 2012.
AFP
Nine bodies, including seven charred bodies, were found Monday in two neighboring houses in a rural part of the Brazilian state of Bahia (northeast), local police announced, citing an investigation into a “crime”. According to several local media, at least three of the victims were children.
“Police are continuing their investigation into the crime that killed nine people,” officials said, without providing details on the cause of death or the nature of the investigation. “Of the nine bodies found in the two houses, five were completely burnt, two were partially burnt and two were unburnt”, read a press release sent by the police.
The “crime” referred to by the police took place in Mata de São Joa, 60 kilometers from Salvador, and residents of the area and relatives of the victims were questioned. According to the G1 news site, investigators are looking into the hypothesis of an “assassination” related to settling scores between rival gangs of drug traffickers. A child who survived the tragedy was “transferred to hospital with severe burns”, police said.
Bahia state recorded 6,600 homicides last year, the second highest rate in the country (47.1 per 100,000 population), higher than the national average (23.4 per 100,000). According to an account by the Brazilian NGO for Public Safety.
(AFP)
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