UpdateSoldiers occupy Rio de Janeiro slums ahead of Brazil's World Cup debut

More than 2,000 Brazilian soldiers stormed into a Rio de Janeiro slum complex yesterday with armoured personnel carriers and helicopters in a bid to improve security two months before the start of the World Cup.

As dawn broke, the heavily armed soldiers entered the sprawling Mare shantytown, considered one of the city's most violent and dangerous, over which drug gangs have ruled for decades.

The occupation of Mare, which is controlled by two rival drug gangs and a militia made up of security personnel, began last week when more than 1,000 police officers and marines entered the shantytown. No shots were fired during the first phase of Mare's takeover.

The complex of 15 "favela" slums that covers an area of nearly 10 square kilometres in northern Rio is strategically located along main road to the international airport and home to about 130,000 people.

The occupation is part of the government's "pacifying police force" strategy aimed at taking over some of Rio's more than 1,000 slums before Brazil plays host to the World Cup as well as the 2016 Olympics.

The 2,050 Army troops, 450 Marines and 200 police officers that entered the Mare slum complex early yesterday are expected to remain there until the end of July, when they are to hand control over to the police, according to the Defence Ministry.

Army General Ronaldo Lundgren recently told reporters the troops could remain in the area for a longer period of time should the state governor and President Dilma Rousseff, who signed off on the use of the armed forces to occupy the slum, request it.