digitalzygot
Senator (1k+ posts)
30 hostages taken after FIERCE gunbattle 10(all) suspects taken into custody NO hostages killed HMMMMM.
Gunmen engaged in a shootout with police took 30 people hostage Saturday at a luxury hotel popular with foreign tourists but within hours freed the captives and surrendered to police.
The upscale, beachside neighbourhood where the Intercontinental Hotel is located was transformed into a virtual war zone as the 10 suspects - armed with high-caliber rifles, grenades and pistols - exchanged fire with police. "It seemed as if I was in Iraq," Jose Oliveira e Silva, a resident of the Sao Conrado neighborhood, told the Globo television network.
Amateur video aired on Globo showed a group of black-clad police taking heavy fire and returning it as they took cover behind a garbage truck. Sanitation workers in bright orange jumpsuits huddled behind the truck, waiting for the onslaught to end.
The police spokeswoman, who could not be identified because she was not authorised to discuss the matter, said that the gunmen held hostages in the hotel's kitchen "but we negotiated with them." "All of the hostages are freed and 10 suspects are in custody," she said, adding that police searched the hotel for other gunmen but found none hiding inside.
Other television images showed an elite unit of Brazil's military police entering the hotel and evacuating approximately 400 guests, many of whom were staying there for a dentists' convention. The Intercontinental is a favorite among foreign tourists, but the nationalities of those taken hostage was not immediately known.

Gunmen engaged in a shootout with police took 30 people hostage Saturday at a luxury hotel popular with foreign tourists but within hours freed the captives and surrendered to police.
The upscale, beachside neighbourhood where the Intercontinental Hotel is located was transformed into a virtual war zone as the 10 suspects - armed with high-caliber rifles, grenades and pistols - exchanged fire with police. "It seemed as if I was in Iraq," Jose Oliveira e Silva, a resident of the Sao Conrado neighborhood, told the Globo television network.
Amateur video aired on Globo showed a group of black-clad police taking heavy fire and returning it as they took cover behind a garbage truck. Sanitation workers in bright orange jumpsuits huddled behind the truck, waiting for the onslaught to end.
The police spokeswoman, who could not be identified because she was not authorised to discuss the matter, said that the gunmen held hostages in the hotel's kitchen "but we negotiated with them." "All of the hostages are freed and 10 suspects are in custody," she said, adding that police searched the hotel for other gunmen but found none hiding inside.
Other television images showed an elite unit of Brazil's military police entering the hotel and evacuating approximately 400 guests, many of whom were staying there for a dentists' convention. The Intercontinental is a favorite among foreign tourists, but the nationalities of those taken hostage was not immediately known.
