Of these 18 people killed, 16 are "suspected" of belonging to criminal gangs, another is a resident of the favela and another a 38-year-old member of the police, said a spokesman for the police. the police at a press conference.
The Defender of Rights' office and the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association separately told AFP they had information of a total of 20 dead, including the policeman and the woman.
The death of the latter, a 50-year-old woman named Leticia Marinho de Sales, is under investigation. "We don't know how it happened," Colonel Rogério Lobasso, the military police officer for the operation, said after expressing regret.
A man posing as the 50-year-old's boyfriend told the G1 news site that police shot at the car they were in. "There was a policeman at a red light, we stopped. But they still shot at the car. I just saw it fall on my side. When I looked at it, it had a hole in the chest," Denilson Gloria said.
President Jair Bolsonaro, for his part, regretted the death of the police officer, Bruno de Paula Costa, without mentioning the other deceased. "He died after a clash with bandits," said the far-right head of state during his traditional social media show, in which he also complained about the supposed legal difficulties encountered by the authorities. to carry out operations in the favelas.
Nearly 400 members of the security forces participated in this operation, with several armored vehicles and four aircraft, in this sprawling favela to confront a gang specializing in the robbery of vehicles transporting goods and funds.
Residents complained to local media about the police operation, during which homes were reportedly invaded.
- "Expansionist policy" of the gangs -
The testimonies collected by G1 show intense exchanges of gunfire between the authorities and the criminals. Some videos posted by Internet users show a burst of fire against a police helicopter.
Authorities said their units were "violently attacked", with "military and guerrilla" tactics, during the operation, and accused some suspected criminals of using civilians as human shields.
"The police must react to protect themselves and protect the population", remarked Fabricio Oliveira, coordinator of the special civil police unit (CORE), during the press conference. He called the operation "emblematic" because it took place in an area traditionally off-limits to law enforcement and where, he said, criminals from other Brazilian states find refuge.
Ronaldo Oliveira, the civilian police's operations undersecretary, said he would have preferred if the officers "had captured the 15 or 14 (presumed criminals shot dead), but unfortunately they chose to shoot the police officers." .
The authorities had previously explained that the operation was intended to curb the "expansionist policy" of the Complexo do Alemao gangs in "various points in the state of Rio de Janeiro".
Rio State Military Police claimed on Twitter that 'criminals' from Complexo do Alemao set fire to barricades, oiled public streets and attacked officers to make the operation more difficult in order to be able to flee.
This is the second police operation with a heavy human toll in a Carioca favela in recent months, after that which occurred in May in Vila Cruzeiro, which claimed the lives of 25 people, including 23 suspects.
Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the state of Rio in February to come up with a plan to avoid such heavy tolls, and the strategy was presented in March, but human rights organizations, which often denounce alleged extrajudicial executions during this type of operation, considered it too vague.
In 2021, 1,356 people were killed by police forces in this state, the highest number of deaths and injuries in clashes in Brazil, according to the organization Monitor da Violência.
