60 people killed as ‘biggest gang raid in history’ sparks shootouts in Rio de Janeiro

At least 60 people are dead after about 2,500 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro.

Eighty-one suspects were arrested in the Tuesday operation, which sparked shootouts and was dubbed the biggest such raid in history.

Authorities said it included officers in helicopters and armored vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha.

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Police did not confirm any deaths, but local media reports, including by online news website G1, said scores of people were believed killed.

An Associated Press journalist also saw the bodies of at least two police officers among 10 bodies brought to the Getulio Vargas hospital in Penha. An unknown number of people were wounded.

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Footage on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out.

The city's Education Department said 46 schools across the two neighborhoods were closed.

Claudio Castro, the conservative governor of Rio state, said the operation was the largest in the city's history, and that the federal government should be providing more support to combat crime.

The coordination action Tuesday followed a year of investigation into the criminal group, police said.