BRASÍLIA: Brazilian police killed 13 men suspected of plotting to rob a bank in the northeastern city of Salvador on Friday, officials said.
"A group of 30 men was planning to rob a bank branch" and opened fire on police when they approached after receiving a tip-off, said the Bahia state headquarters of the military police.
Three suspects and a police sergeant were also wounded in the ensuing shoot-out, police said.
Two of the wounded suspects are in hospital in serious condition. The rest of the group escaped.
Police said they seized high-caliber guns and drugs after the shoot-out.
An investigation has been opened into the incident.
A police source said officers have been working together with the intelligence services to prevent attacks on ATMs in Bahia state.
Brazil's police have been criticized in the past for using excessive force in their bid to control violent crime in the country's impoverished neighborhoods.
In 2013, the police killed an average of six people per day, according to the most recent data available from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security, a watchdog group.
Between 2009 and 2013, the police killed more than 11,000 people, the same number killed by police in the United States in the past 30 years.
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