At least 120 people have died in Rio de Janeiro after thousands of Brazilian police and soldiers launched a raid on a drug-trafficking gang on Tuesday.
About 2,500 police and soldiers equipped with helicopters and armoured vehicles launched the raid on the Red Command gang.
People mourn over the bodies a day after a massive anti-gang police operation at the Complexo da Penha and Alemao favelas. The ‘Operação Contenção’ is the biggest of its kind in Rio de Janeiro, with more than 120 people reported dead, including 4 police officers 📸: Wagner Meier pic.twitter.com/DQwqfbjEMG
— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) October 29, 2025
They drew gunfire, causing retaliation from gang members, who allegedly then targeted police with at least one drone.
“We saw executed people: shot in the back, shots to the head, stab wounds, people tied up,” a local activist, Raull Santiago, said.
Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades.
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In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela.
But the scale and lethality of Tuesday’s operation are unprecedented, making it Brazil’s deadliest police operation ever.
Protests against the raid
To show the magnitude of the operation, local residents laid dozens of the dead bodies on the street.
The raid also triggered protests against the use of excessive force and calls for Rio’s governor to resign.
Dozens of favelas residents gathered in front of the state’s government headquarters shouting “assassins!” and waving Brazilian flags stained with red paint on Wednesday.
“They can take them to jail, why kill them like this?” local resident Elisangela Silva Santos, 50, said.
“Do we have a death sentence? Stop killing us,” said activist Rute Sales, 56.
Fatalities have risen
Questions quickly arose about the death count and the state of the bodies, with reports of disfigurement and knife wounds.
Authorities originally said there were 60 suspects dead, but this figure has now risen to over 120.
Felipe Curi, Rio state police secretary, told a news conference that bodies of additional suspects were found in a wooded area, where he said they had worn camouflage while battling with security forces.
He said local residents had removed clothing and equipment from the bodies, in what would be investigated as evidence tampering.
“These individuals were in the woods, equipped with camouflage clothing, vests and weapons. Now many of them appeared wearing underwear or shorts, with no equipment, as if they had come through a portal and changed clothes,” Mr Curi said.
The federal public prosecutor’s office asked the Forensic Medical Institute to ensure that autopsy reports contained full descriptions as well as photographic and radiographic documentation of all injuries.
With additional input by GVS US and Intl desk