At least 28 killed in Brazil police shootout with drug traffickers

BRASILIA: The death toll from a police raid on a gang of drug smugglers, in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, has risen to 28.

It was the deadliest operation ever carried out by the security forces in the Brazilian city.

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The bodies of three more victims removed from the favela yesterday were men with links to organized crime.

Twenty-four other people and a police officer also died in the operation.

The dead, who were drug dealers, fired at officers, to kill. They had orders to confront.

Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International slammed the police for the "reprehensible and unjustifiable" loss of life in a predominantly black and impoverished community.

The United Nations human rights office has called for an independent investigation into the operation.

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