BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send troops to patrol the streets of Rio de Janeiro after pleas by Rio politicians for help to fight slum drug lords armed with assault rifles and grenades, an official said Wednesday.

Around 5,600 troops are ready to go to Rio, although there is not yet a final decision on how many will be used in the operation to help out-gunned police in Brazil's second-largest city, a spokeswoman at the defense ministry said.

Rio Gov. Rosinha Matheus last month asked Brazil's government for 4,000 troops to help police in Rio's hillside Rocinha slum. Clashes between drug gangs, whose arsenals include rocket launchers, mines and grenades, killed at least 12 people in April.

The deployment of the troops would be the first time soldiers have been sent to Brazil's tourist mecca to help in the day-to-day fight against crime rather than to ensure safety during specific events.

Troops were sent for the city's 2003 Carnival and for the 2002 presidential election.

Copyright 2004 Reuters.