At least 18 people, including a resident, were killed Thursday during a police operation against organized crime in Complexo do Alemão, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The previous balance pointed to four fatalities.
Of the 18 people killed, 16 are suspected of belonging to criminal factions, one was a slum dweller Y the last an agent of the security force 38, a police spokesman said at a news conference.
The National Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association told Agence France-Presse that it had received information on a total of 20 dead, including the policeman and the resident.
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Colonel Rogério Lobasso, responsible for the operation of the Military Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro, lamented the death of the resident, Letícia Marinho de Sales, 50, and said that The case is being investigated. “We don’t know how it happened,” she admitted.
Denilson Glória, who identified himself as the resident’s boyfriend, told the G1 news site that police shot at the car in which the couple was driving.
had a [agente] police at a red light, we stopped. But they still shot at the car. I just saw it fall next to her. When I looked at her, she had a hole in the chestsaid the man.
The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, lamented the death of agent Bruno de Paula Costa, without mentioning the other deceased.
“He died after a confrontation with bandits”said the head of state on social networks, also criticizing what he described as the legal difficulties encountered by the security forces to carry out operations in the favelas.
Near 400 members of the security forces participated in the operationwith several armored vehicles and four aircraftin a large favela, to face a group specialized in the theft of vehicles for the transport of merchandise and money.
Several neighbors told the Brazilian press that their houses were invaded by agents during the police operation.
Videos posted on social media show an intense exchange of gunfire between security forces and suspected criminals, including police helicopter shot.
Authorities said officers were “violently attacked”with “Military and guerrilla” tacticsduring the operation and accused some suspects of using civilians as human shields.
This is the Second police operation with a large number of deaths in a favela in Rio de Janeiroafter a May operation in the Vila Cruzeiro favela killed 25 people, including 23 suspects.
Police operation in Rio de Janeiro favela leaves at least eight dead
The state of Rio de Janeiro presented in March a plan to avoid operations with high death tollresponding to an order of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil.
But human rights organizations, which often denounce alleged extrajudicial executions during these types of operations, found the document too vague.
In 2021, 1,356 people were killed by police forces in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the highest number of deaths and injuries in clashes in Brazilaccording to the organization Violence Monitor.
Source: Observadora
