At least 120 people have died in Rio de Janeiro after thousands of Brazilian police and soldiers launched a raid on a drug-trafficking gang on Tuesday.

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About 2,500 police and soldiers equipped with helicopters and armoured vehicles launched the raid on the Red Command gang.

They drew gunfire, causing retaliation from gang members, who allegedly then targeted police with at least one drone.

"We saw executed people: shot in the back, shots to the head, stab wounds, people tied up," a local activist, Raull Santiago, said.

" There's no other way to describe it except as a massacre. "

Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades.

In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio's Baixada F

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