SCORES of bodies have been laid out in Rio de Janeiro just 24 hours after a day of terror unfolded in the capital.
At least 64 people were killed and 81 arrested as 2,500 heavily armed police and soldiers stormed favelas in the city’s largest-ever anti-gang operation.
Up to 60 criminals were killed in the major operation targeting the powerful Red Command (Comando Vermelho) gang in Brazil, according to Rio governor Claudio Castro.
Four police officers were also pronounced dead after the 12 hours of violence.
Chilling images taken from the Penha favela complex show up to 55 corpses laid out under blankets and plastic sheets.
Locals living in the area, one of two targeted by police on Tuesday, were heard applauding as they stood next to the line of bodies.
Others broke down in tears and held onto the lifeless hands of the brutally executed gang members, witnesses said.
Officials are still investigating the bodies to determine if they were killed on Tuesday during the police crackdown.
Slum residents said they found the dozens of bodies covered in bullet and stab wounds in scrublands and forests between the Alemao and Penha favelas.
Police chiefs said the bodies laid out in Sao Lucas Square in the Penha favela did not form part of the official death toll.
This means the official death toll could rise past 100.
The bodies are said to have been laid out in the square so relatives could identify their loved ones.
One woman was pictured crouched down and crying over one of the bodies under a blanket as onlookers watched on with pain etched on their faces.
The horror scenes came just days before Rio hosts a global event related to a United Nations summit known as COP30.
One of the most high profile people in attendance will be the future King of England, Prince William.
He will be heading to Rio for the ceremony of the environmental Earthshot prize.
The event, created by the Prince five years ago, awards £1m each year to five projects for their environmental innovations.
William is still expected to attended despite the bloodshed.
Brazil has become embroiled in a conflict between gangs and the military this week in “the biggest operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro”.
Governor Cláudio Castro said Rio was “at war” as he ordered the operation
The fighting has left “bodies strewn all over the streets,” according to a community leader quoted by O Globo.
Activist Raull Santiago, one of the people who said they helped remove the bodies, added: “In 36 years of living in the favela, experiencing several operations and massacres, I have never seen anything like what I am seeing today.
“It’s something new. Brutal and violent on an unknown level.”
The UN human rights office said it was “horrified” by the police raids and called for a swift investigation.
The raid, reportedly planned for over a year, aimed to crush the Red Command’s territorial expansion.
The gang, Brazil’s oldest criminal faction, emerged from Rio’s prisons during the military dictatorship and now runs major drug and extortion networks across South America.
Footage showed armoured vehicles advancing through narrow alleys as gunfire echoed and thick black smoke rose from burning barricades.
Local media said gang members used drones to drop explosives on police.
Authorities said the operation sought to execute 250 arrest and search warrants, but the clashes brought much of northern Rio to a halt.
Rio’s civil police said in a statement: “The cowardly attacks by criminals against our agents will not go unpunished.”
Residents described waking to heavy gunfire before dawn.
Glória Alves, 65, who lives in the Palmeiras area of Alemão, said: “There was this volley of shots — so, so many shots. It was horrible.”
Activists accused the government of turning Rio’s poor neighborhoods into war zones.
“This is not a public safety policy. It’s a policy of extermination,” said the Marielle Franco Institute.
