Gang-related violence has continued in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, with the police shooting dead a further 14 suspected gang members

BBC News:

At least 170 people have died in a week of clashes, which began with prison riots and attacks against the police.

Human rights groups have accused police of targeting innocent civilians as they avenge the killing of their officers.

The head of the military police Colonel Elizeu Eclair Teixeira denies that any innocent people have been killed.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Sao Paulo says that as attacks on the police have fallen, the number of suspects shot by officers has risen sharply.

In less than a week the police in Sao Paulo have shot dead 107 people, almost the same as the number of fatal shootings in the first three months of the year.

The victims are described as suspects, but few details have emerged and many of the dead are yet to be identified, our correspondent says.

Human rights campaigners suspect the police of acting out of revenge for the murders of officers by the gang known as the First Command of the Capital (PCC).

They say there is evidence that rogue officers have indiscriminately shot at civilians, especially in poorer areas of Sao Paulo.

"On this moment we are facing a sort of explosion. Policemen in their cars with their guns going to poor neighbourhoods and facing people with a face like criminals and shooting them," said lawyer Carlos Veiss.

Col Teixeira rejected such claims in an interview with the daily Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper and said there was no evidence of the police using excessive force.

"Not so far. All the deaths happened during counter-attacks by the police. This is clear from the incident reports," he said.

The governor of Sao Paulo state, Claudio Lembo, has also denied its security forces are out of control

He said they were acting within limits and with restraint. The state attorney-general has said he will investigate every death.

But our correspondent says the number of shootings is causing growing concern, with some critics drawing comparisons with the death squads of Brazil's military era.

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