Rio de Janeiro: A cable car service which runs to Rio de Janeiro´s Sugarloaf Mountain, one of Brazil´s most famous tourist attractions, was suspended Friday after a nearby shootout that wounded a policeman. "The Sugarloaf cable car service is temporarily suspended due to a police operation," the firm that runs the service told AFP. Military police in Rio confirmed in a statement that an operation began Friday morning in favelas in the hilly areas of Leme district, a popular tourist area in the city´s south, where a number of shootings have occurred in recent days near the famed Copacabana beach. A man was arrested in the operation, several weapons were seized and a policeman was injured by shrapnel from a hand grenade. After the armed gang members fled into the woods, they apparently went toward the Sugarloaf shore area, where they were hunted by police in helicopters and on jet skis. Nearly two years after hosting the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is experiencing a surge in violence. At the end of February, President Michel Temer entrusted the army with the city´s security, though the policy has not resulted in any real reduction in insecurity.
Seven bodies are recovered from the base of Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.