Brazil gunmen shoot at convoy carrying nuclear fuel

Rio de Janeiro  :  Gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks carrying uranium fuel to a nuclear power plant near the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, police said.

The convoy came under attack as it drove past a community controlled by drug traffickers in Angra dos Reis, a tourist city 145 km from here, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Police escorting the convoy responded and a shootout followed. No one was injured and the convoy reached the nuclear plant 20 minutes after the attack.

The uranium was being transported in armoured containers in a "natural state" and would not have offered any risk as it had the same level of radioactivity as when it is found in nature, Brazil's nuclear agency Eletronuclear said.

The agency, however, said the convoy "had not been attacked by bandits" directly - it was passing from the area at a moment the shootout was happening.