Bach says Rio 2016 Olympics will be 'safe games'

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (R) greets International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach during a meeting at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia February 24, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

RIO DE JANEIRO - IOC President Thomas Bach said Tuesday he is confident that the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be a "safe games."

Bach, who spoke in the capital Brasilia after a meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, is inspecting progress on Rio's games this week with other top officials of the International Olympic Committee.

"We have full confidence these games will be safe games, and that the world will feel very welcome here in Brazil," Bach said, sitting next to Sports Minister George Hilton and Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio games organizing committee.

"We have no doubt about this," Bach added.

His assurances came after five policemen were killed over the weekend in and around Rio.

A recent increase in violent crime could discourage tourists from coming to South America's first games.

Stray bullets injured about 30 people in Rio in January and caused at least five deaths, including a 4-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.

Some of the violence is connected to drug gangs, and moves by security forces to control unpoliced areas in Rio's favelas, or slums.