The operation targeted the criminal group known as the Pure Third Command and a trafficker nicknamed “the Coronel,” accused of murdering a woman in August, police said.
Six men holding a pastor and a child hostage were killed after resisting officers, while two more suspects were shot dead elsewhere. Two others were arrested as they tried to seize a bus to use as a barricade.
The shoot-out paralysed parts of Rio, disrupting buses and trains, closing schools and forcing children in a daycare centre to lie on the floor as gunfire erupted nearby.
