Over 130 killed in Rio’s deadliest police operation targeting drug gangs

A massive police operation in Rio de Janeiro against the Red Command drug cartel has become the deadliest in the city’s history, with at least 132 people killed, including four police officers. Residents were trapped inside their homes as schools and clinics shut down amid hours of heavy gunfire.

Source The New York Times

Witnesses described scenes of chaos as drones dropped explosives, vehicles were set ablaze, and bodies piled up in the streets. Overnight, volunteers discovered dozens more victims in nearby woods, exposing the sheer scale of the violence.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched an emergency investigation, sending ministers to Rio as outrage spreads. While state officials hailed the raid as a success, human rights groups denounced it as a “massacre,” demanding accountability and reforms to Brazil’s policing tactics.