At least 14 killed in Brazil nightclub shootout

View of facade of the nightclub where at least 14 people were killed in an early Saturday shootout, in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil, on January 27, 2018. AFP / Rodrigo CARVALHO

At least 14 people were killed in an early Saturday shootout at a nightclub in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil, officials said.

"We can confirm 14 deaths," Andre Costa, security secretary for the state of Ceara - of which Fortaleza is the capital - told a press conference.

Seven of the victims were identified: three men, two women and two teenagers. Local newspaper O Povo reported eight women and six men were killed.

A spokesperson from the Institut Jose Frota hospital said six people, including a 12-year-old boy, had been rushed in for emergency care. Authorities did not say exactly how many people were injured.

The shooting broke out at 1.30am am local time when a group of armed men arrived in three vehicles at the Forro do Gago nightclub in Fortaleza's Cajazeiras neighborhood.

"It's a brutal scene, a massacre. Something you never see in Ceara," a police officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told news website G1.

Local media reported that the shootout was a clash between members of two rival drug trafficking gangs.

Officials however remained tight lipped. "The investigation is still ongoing," Mr Costa said.

On January 7, a war between drug gangs already claimed four lives in the suburbs of Fortaleza.

Last year there was a record 5,114 murders in the state of Ceara, a 50 per cent rise from 2016.