132 Dead in Rio's Deadliest Drug Raid: Residents Allege Mass Executions as Police Target Red Command

Four police officers lost their lives during the extensive military-style operation in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro public defender's office reported Wednesday that 132 individuals perished in what has become the city's deadliest police raid against drug gangs, as devastated residents displayed numerous bodies in the streets.

"The latest count stands at 132 dead," confirmed the Rio state public defender's office to AFP, an institution that provides legal services to underprivileged citizens.

Other sources have not yet verified this figure.

Rio state Governor Claudio Castro earlier estimated approximately 60 casualties from Tuesday's violence but indicated the actual number would likely increase as additional bodies were transported to the morgue for counting.

Four police officers were killed during this large-scale military-style operation, which deployed 2,500 officers against Rio's most influential criminal organization, the Comando Vermelho, or Red Command.

In the Penha Complex—one of two densely populated, working-class neighborhoods targeted in northern Rio—residents were seen grieving over a row of at least 50 bodies early Wednesday.

A woman cried out while hunched over one victim's body. The deceased were arranged in a line, covered with improvised shrouds, some visibly stained with blood.

Two young girls, faces marked with tears, gently touched the face of a dead man wrapped in a floral-patterned sheet before embracing each other tightly.

"This wasn't a police operation—the state came to massacre. They came directly to kill, to take lives," one woman told AFP as she touched another victim's face, requesting anonymity.

Authorities stated that "60 criminals" had been killed during confrontations that occurred during drug raids in both the Penha Complex and the Alemao Complex, located near Rio's international airport.

Outraged residents accused police of carrying out summary executions.

"There are people who have been executed, many shot in the back of the head or in the back. This cannot be considered public safety," declared Raul Santiago, a 36-year-old resident and activist.

Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, representing three families who lost relatives, informed AFP that some bodies showed "burn marks" and certain victims had been tied up.

Some were "murdered in cold blood," he stated.

The massive police contingent participating in the operation was supported by armored vehicles, helicopters, and drones, transforming the favela streets into war zones.

Heavy gunfire was exchanged between police and suspected gang members, with fires erupting throughout the neighborhoods.

Authorities accused suspects of using buses as barricades and deploying drones to attack police with explosives.

"This is not ordinary crime, but narcoterrorism," Rio state governor Claudio Castro wrote Tuesday on X, sharing video footage of the confrontation.

While police raids in Rio's favelas, where drug gangs maintain a strong presence, are common occurrences, Tuesday's operation was notably exceptional in both scale and deadliness.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed being "horrified" and called for "swift investigations."

A delegation from left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government will visit Rio on Wednesday for an emergency meeting with Castro.

Last year, approximately 700 people died during police operations in Rio, averaging nearly two fatalities per day.

The Human Rights Commission of the Rio state legislature will demand "explanations" regarding how the favela was transformed into a "theater of war and barbarism," commission head Dani Monteiro told AFP on Tuesday.