<span style="color: #222222;">In Brazil, twelve people, including five hostages, were killed in the northeast town on Milagres yesterday as the police foiled an assault on two banks by a gang of armed robbers. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Local mayor, Lielson Landim said, the five dead hostages, including two children, were members of the same family. They had been returning from a nearby airport when some of the robbers seized them. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The identity of the 6th victim was not immediately clear. The gang had launched simultaneous assaults on two banks on the same street in Milagres at around 2:00 am local time.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The secretary for security in the state of Ceara, Andre Costa, said in a statement that an investigation was being carried out to identify those killed and the circumstances of their deaths. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to Costa's office, six gangsters were killed and two were arrested. Various weapons and explosives, as well as three vehicles used in the bank assaults, were recovered.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world, with a homicide rate of 30.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The figure is three times higher than the level the United Nations considers to be endemic violence.</span><br />''  <br />