Two suspected criminals died at the hospital on Wednesday morning, G1 said. According to the police, that raises the number of suspected criminals who were killed to 15.

A 41-year-old Vila Cruzeiro resident was accidentally hit by a bullet and also died. At least six people were injured during the operation on Tuesday.

According to eyewitnesses, fierce exchanges of fire began in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Police planned the operation to arrest the bosses of the drug trafficking gang Comando Vermelho (Red Command), who were said to be hiding in the favela, or shantytown, according to media reports.

The police seized 13 rifles, four pistols, 12 hand grenades and a large quantity of drugs.

"These bad people want to destroy the future of the residents of Rio de Janeiro. We will not allow anarchy in our state," Rio's governor Claudio Castro wrote on Twitter.

The police in Rio blamed the Supreme Court for the higher number of criminals in the city after a decision to limit operations in favelas during the pandemic.

"We have noticed this since the Supreme Court's decision," Colonel Luiz Henrique Marinho was quoted as saying by the Folha de S Paulo newspaper.

More people are killed in police operations in Brazil than in any other country.

In 2021, security forces killed more than 6000 people in the South American country, according to a violence monitor run by G1, the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety and the University of Sao Paulo.

Australian Associated Press