More than 40 people have been killed by police during raids across three states in Brazil, authorities have said.
At least nine people were killed as officers stormed a favela in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, during an operation aimed at locating and arresting members of criminal groups, said police.
Officers were attacked by armed individuals as they carried out the raid, police said in a statement.
One was wounded, but is stable in hospital.
Among the dead are Fiel and Du Leme, leaders of the impoverished Juramento and Chatuba favelas, police said.
Seven rifles, ammunition and grenades were reportedly seized from the suspects’ possession.
It comes as at least 14 people have been killed in an ongoing raid in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, which was sparked by the killing of an elite police officer last week.
The sprawling operation has raised questions about the use of lethal force by police.
Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who on Monday had said 10 people were killed, on Tuesday announced the increased tally.
News website G1 said the revised figures make the raid the most deadly in Brazil’s most populous and wealthiest state since 2006.
Mr De Freitas, a former minister of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro and deemed by many politicians as his potential heir, said he is proud of his policemen involved in the statewide raid, which is expected to finish on August 28.
The operation is also seeking the arrests of the killers of elite policeman Patrick Bastos Reis, who was shot dead on Thursday.
“Those who decided to turn themselves in were arrested,” the governor said when asked about the high number of people killed in alleged confrontations with police, most in the beachfront city of Guaruja in the south of the state.
Mr Bolsonaro’s successful presidential campaign in 2018 included his proposal to give police officers carte blanche to kill criminals.
Sao Paulo police have already arrested a man who they accuse of killing Mr Reis.
TV Globo said the officer was killed as he and others looked for the suspects in the shooting deaths of two retired policemen in Guaruja.
Meanwhile in the northeastern state of Bahia, 19 more people been killed since Friday during clashes with police, according to officials.
