21 dead in police raid on drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro

Twenty-one people died in a slum on the north side of Rio de Janeiro early on Tuesday during a police raid to capture heads of a drug-trafficking organization, police said.

The operation in the slum Vila Cruzeiro left 20 dead, according to the state health secretary, while police said a bystander was killed by a stray bullet, adding to the toll. Seven other people were hospitalized.

Residents said on social media that heavy shooting began in darkness at 4 a.m. in a wooded area next to Vila Cruzeiro, causing fear and panic in the slum.

The police operation, backed by a helicopter, targeted leaders of Rio's largest organized crime gang, the Comando Vermelho, who were hiding in Vila Cruzeiro according to police intelligence.

"It was a very intense confrontation," Colonel Ivan Blaz, spokesman for the militarized police force that led the operation, told reporters. He said the woman could have been hit by a shot fired from inside Vila Cruzeiro.

Police seized assault rifles, pistols and a grenade, as well as cars and motor bikes used by the criminals, he said.

The dead woman was identified as 41-year-old Gabriele Cunha, hit by a stray bullet even though she lived in a neighboring slum called Chatuba. Schools did not open for classes.

Last year, 28 people died in violence in Rio slums, mostly in clashes between drug traffickers and police.