At least 64 people have reportedly been killed in Rio’s worst-ever day of violence as more than 2,500 officers and special forces stormed an area of favelas near Rio’s international airport that is considered the headquarters of one of Brazil’s most powerful organised crime groups.

Axar.az, citing The Guardian, reports that the predawn police raid sparked intense gunfights in and around Alemão and Penha favelas, which are home to an estimated 300,000 people.

Drug traffickers from the Red Command criminal faction started shooting and set barricades and cars alight as civil and military police and special forces began their advance shortly after 4 am.

For the first time, the gang reportedly used weaponised drones to drop explosives on special forces teams.

Gunshot wound victims were carried to a local hospital throughout the morning, and by afternoon, at least 64 people had been killed, including four police officers. “There are bodies strewn all over the streets,” one community leader told the Rio newspaper O Globo.

Eight police officers and four residents were wounded.