BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALERS BANG IT OUT WITH THE COPS! THEY EVEN SHOT DOWN THE POLICE HELICOPTER!

Drug dealers shot down a police helicopter, set fire to five buses and torched a school in Rio de Janeiro in a swarm of violence Saturday that left two cops dead and four injured, officials said.
The intense shootout took place in one of the city's 1,000 slums just two weeks after Rio was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games ahead of Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.

Ten suspected drug traffickers died in the fighting and two bystanders were injured.

It was one of the worst recent outbreaks of violence in a city already marred with the stigma of being one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

The gun battle was sparked by a police operation aimed at clamping down on the drug traffickers who operate in the Morro dos Macacos slum, the Brazilian television network O Globo reported.

A helicopter carrying six police officers was attempting to descend upon the slum, which is dominated by heavily armed drug gangs.

The criminals already had set the buses ablaze, and as the chopper approached the ground the pilot was shot in the leg, causing him to lose control.

The helicopter crashed to the ground and exploded into flames.

"The helicopter was hit by criminals, and the pilot made a forced landing on a [soccer] pitch," said Maj. Oderlei Santos of the military police.

Two officers in the helicopter were killed, but the pilot and three other cops on board escaped with burns. The survivors are expected to recover.

Images broadcast on Brazilian television showed the charred remains of the chopper scattered on the ground.

The crash happened about 5 miles from one of the zones where Rio's 2016 Olympics will take place.

Safety concerns were a major factor in the Olympic Committee's decision on whether or not to award the Games to the city.

Rio state Gov. Sergio Cabral grimly told reporters that Rio's security challenges can't be cured "by magic in the short term," but he said money is being poured into programs to reduce crime and authorities are prepared to mount an overwhelming security presence at the sporting events to ensure safety.

"We told the International Olympic Committee that this won't be an easy thing, and they know that," Cabral said.