132 killed in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro police raid: Officials

Guwahati: The death toll from a massive police operation in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro has climbed to 132, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The figure is more than double the initial count released after the raid in the Alemão and Penha favelas, two low-income neighbourhoods in northern Rio, on Tuesday.

According to the public defender’s office, which provides legal aid to underprivileged citizens, the updated number was made public after mourning residents placed dozens of bodies in a local square early Wednesday to protest the killings.

The operation has now been described as the deadliest police raid in Rio’s history, part of long-running efforts to combat gang control in the city’s poorer areas.

When questioned about the new figure, Rio state Governor Cláudio Castro said forensic investigations were still ongoing. He added that the official number of 58 deaths he had received was “certain to change.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reportedly shocked by the scale of the tragedy. Justice Minister Flávio Dino stated that Lula was “astonished” and surprised that the federal government had not been notified beforehand. Even before the toll had doubled, the United Nations Human Rights Office had said it was “horrified” by the incident.

In the early hours of Wednesday, residents carried the bodies of those killed to a public square in Penha, lining them up to highlight the scale of the bloodshed.

Brazilian media reported estimates ranging from at least 50 to more than 70 bodies, many of which were recovered from a nearby hillside where, according to police, the most intense fighting took place.

Governor Castro defended his earlier comments referring to those killed as “criminals,” saying, “To be quite honest with you, the conflict wasn't in a built-up area, it was all in the woods. So I don't believe anyone was just strolling in the woods on a day of conflict. And that's why we can easily classify them.”

Residents likened Tuesday’s scenes to a war zone, describing heavy gunfire between police and armed men, with buses set ablaze to form barricades.

Police officials claimed that gang members had deployed drones to drop explosives on officers during the operation in neighbourhoods controlled by the Red Command criminal faction.

“This is how the Rio police are treated by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones. This is the scale of the challenge we face. This is not ordinary crime, but narco-terrorism,” Governor Castro said.

He added that the raid had been two months in planning, based on a detailed investigation.

Among those arrested was an alleged senior drug trafficker linked to the Red Command. Castro also posted photos of the four officers who died during the operation, calling it “a historic day” and praising the police for having “confronted organised crime.”

Journalist Rafael Soares, who reports on crime in Rio, told BBC News Brasil that the Red Command has been regaining influence in the city after losing ground to its rival group, the First Capital Command (PCC). He noted that Governor Castro appeared intent on making a political statement through the large-scale operation ahead of next year’s elections.

The raid took place just days before Rio is scheduled to host two major international events, the C40 World Mayors Summit, gathering nearly 100 global city leaders, and the Earthshot Prize, to be presented by Prince William on November 5.

While major police operations are not uncommon in Rio, the extraordinarily high death toll sets this one apart.

Soares said incidents involving more than 20 deaths are “very rare” in Brazil, though such large-scale fatalities have mostly occurred in Rio.

Rio’s Minister for Public Security, Victor Santos, stated that about 280,000 residents live in the affected areas.

Police-released footage showed heavily armed officers navigating the steep, narrow alleys of the hillside favelas.

“This is a war we are seeing in Rio de Janeiro. Decades of inaction by all the institutions, including municipal, state and federal, have allowed crime to expand in our territory,” Santos said.