Eight killed in pre-Carnival Rio violence

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Seven suspected drug gang members and a police captain were killed in a shoot-out in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, police said, a day before the start of Carnival celebrations that draw millions of visitors to the beach-side Brazilian city.

Police officers came under fire during a routine patrol of the Jacarezinho slum in the city's northern zone and called in reinforcements as they fired back at the suspected drug traffickers, a military police spokeswoman said.

Six suspects were arrested and one resident was taken to hospital with bullet wounds, the spokeswoman said.

It is among the worst outbreaks of violence since October when drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter, killing three officers and triggering a police response that left more than 40 people dead. That violence cast doubt on Rio's ability to host safely the 2016 Olympics, which were awarded to it only weeks earlier.

Rio police have been condemned by human rights groups for regularly launching violent raids on the city's hundreds of slums in search of drugs and to make arrests of traffickers who control the communities. State officials defend the police, who shoot dead more than a thousand suspects each year, as facing unique challenges against the entrenched gangs.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Eric Walsh)