CNN reported that 25 people, including a police officer, were killed during a raid of a drug cartel in a slum of Rio de Janeiro Thursday.
The raid was reportedly the deadliest such operation in over a decade.
In a press conference following the operation, a police spokesman said the raid targeted minors attempting to join drug cartels. "We went to that community to guarantee the rights of that population that lives under the dictatorship of drug trafficking," said an official.
According to a police report, 200 officers took part in the operation, in which six suspects were taken into custody, and firearms seized, alongside an "abundant amount of drugs."
The leader of the local branch of the Socialism and Liberty Party condemned the operation, labeling it, "Insanity that needs to be stopped." "Terrified families, people shot inside their homes, residents injured when they left for work, innocent people murdered, a police officer dead," he wrote on his social media page.
CNN reported passers-by being injured by stray bullets during the shootout.