Heavily-armed gangsters attacked police posts in Brazil's Sao Paulo state for a second night in the worst wave of crime-related violence in the country's industrial and business heartland in memory.
At least 52 people, mostly police and prison guards, have been killed in shoot-outs and attacks over the past two nights, the state security office said today.
The bloodshed was unleashed by a powerful criminal gang in retaliation for the transfer of imprisoned gang members to a remote penitentiary. Prisoners have also rioted in 36 penitentiaries, the security office said.
A total of 100 attacks have been counted since the gangsters armed with grenades and machine guns first struck on Friday night, hitting police posts and other targets in rich and poor areas of the city and other locations in the state.
The latest wave included the drive-by shooting early this morning of a police post at Itapecerica da Serra on the Regis Bittencourt highway, a main road running west from the city. Police chased and killed the three attackers, a state security spokesman said.
As of this morning, 35 police and prison guards had been killed as well as three civilians and 14 gangsters. A further 53 people have been wounded.
Police say the violence was launched by the notorious First Command of the Capital, or PCC in Portuguese, one of the most powerful of Brazil's organized crime operations, after authorities transferred 765 prisoners to a new penitentiary 620 kilometres from the capital.
The transfer of prisoners, including Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, or Marcola, considered the PCC chief, was an attempt to defuse a multi-prison rebellion allegedly planned for this weekend.
Sao Paulo - the third-biggest city in the world with around 20 million people - has long been plagued by violent crime. It is the command and control center for drug trafficking in Latin America's largest country, which is a transit point for cocaine destined for Africa and Europe as well as Brazil's domestic market.
New riots broke out in prisons across the state just as authorities managed to bring some under control. The state prison service said rioting had erupted in 36 of the state's 106 prisons.