Brazil paper: stray Rio bullets hit 1 person every 2 days

SAO PAULO – A survey by a major Brazilian newspaper says that one person is either killed or wounded by a stray bullet every two days in Rio de Janeiro.

The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that conducted the survey published Tuesday says that between Jan. 1 and May 10 stray bullets struck 66 people in Rio. Twenty-three were killed.

It says that nearly all of the victims were struck in one of Rio’s shantytown slums or in low-income districts.

Rio has been the scene of frequent bursts of violence. Buses have been burned and near-daily shootouts between police and suspected drug traffickers in slums have killed several people over the past several weeks.

Soldiers of the elite National Force began patrolling parts of the city on Monday.