Police Operation in Rio’s Favelas Leaves Over 100 Dead

(MENAFN) A police crackdown and subsequent confrontations with a drug trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished neighborhoods resulted in at least 119 fatalities, officials reported Wednesday.

The incident occurred a day after a large-scale action drew criticism for alleged "excessive use of force."

The death count, which included 115 suspected criminals and four police officers, exceeded earlier estimates.

Authorities had initially reported that 60 suspects were killed in Tuesday’s raid, which involved 2,500 police officers and soldiers targeting the Penha and Complexo do Alemão favelas.

Felipe Curi, Rio’s state police secretary, told reporters that more bodies were discovered in a wooded area where suspects had been "wearing camouflage while engaging security forces."

He noted that local residents had stripped clothing and equipment from the deceased.

“These individuals were in the woods, equipped with camouflage clothing, vests and weapons. Now, many of them were found in their underwear or shorts, without any gear, as if they had gone through a portal and changed clothes,” Curi explained.

Rio’s state public defender’s office reported the death toll at 132.

“The elevated lethality of the operation was expected but not desired,” stated Victor Santos, Rio state’s head of security, during a Wednesday press briefing.

Authorities aimed to "combat the territorial expansion" of the Comando Vermelho criminal faction, which had resisted law enforcement with intense gunfire and grenades deployed from drones. Police units, moving in 32 armored vehicles, entered these northern districts of the city in the early morning hours.

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