Soldier guarding Olympics is shot in the head and comrades injured in brutal gun battle with drugs gang after driving into slum by mistake

A RIO soldier was shot in the head by machine gun-wielding drug barons as he protected the Olympics – just for driving down the wrong street.

Helio Vieira was gunned down after driving down the wrong street and entering a crime-infested favela.

At least two more soldiers were wounded in a hail of bullets as their heavily-armoured truck entered the Vila do Joao slum on Wednesday.

All the while, barely a few miles away, Olympians including Brits Max Whitlock and Chris Froome were standing on the podium collecting their medals.

Bloody images of the shooting’s aftermath emerged last night as a reminder of the drug-fuelled violence that plagues Rio.

A police officer said the men – all part of Brazil’s elite National Force – “accidentally went into the Vila do Joao community”.

He added: “Their car was hit by drug traffickers’ (gunfire).”

Vila do Joao is one of the sprawling slums known as favelas in the Complexo da Mare area, near the city’s international airport.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes labelled it a "a regrettable and cowardly attack" and said two suspects had already been identified.

A ministry statement said: "One of the police was shot in the head and underwent surgery and is now under observation. Another officer was shot but not seriously hurt."

The officers were part of the 5,000-strong federal reinforcements sent in to help police South America's first Olympics.

Brazilian authorities have deployed an unprecedented 85,000 soldiers and police to protect the event.

Police, which fall under military control in Brazil, are engaged in often brutal operations against drug traffickers who control swaths of Rio's favelas. Shootings are an everyday occurrence.

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