Elite police units backed by armoured military vehicles and helicopters invaded Rio's largest slum, in the most ambitious operation yet in an offensive that seeks to bring security to a seaside city long known for violence.
The action at dawn on Sunday is part of a policing campaign to drive heavily armed drug gangs out of the city's slums, where the traffickers have ruled for decades.
Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo reports from Rio De Janeiro.
