Brazilian President Lula said he was "stunned" on Wednesday by the death toll of the police operation that left more than 100 dead in Rio de Janeiro. He also expressed surprise "that an operation of this scale was carried out without the knowledge of the federal government."

The Brazilian president is in shock. As his Minister of Justice revealed on Wednesday, Lula is "stunned" by the number of deaths caused by the police operation carried out in a Rio de Janeiro favela on Tuesday.

"The president (...) was surprised that an operation of this scale was set up without the knowledge of the federal government," he said, as reported by Minister Ricardo Lewandowski in Brasilia.

The death toll is estimated at at least 119.

Authorities, for their part, report 119 deaths in the aftermath of this police operation. It took place in the Complexo da Penha and the Complexo do Alemão, vast favela complexes located in the north of Rio de Janeiro.

On Wednesday, dozens of bodies were recovered by residents from a forest at the top of the favela and then placed near one of the main access roads to the Complexo da Penha. Given the condition of some of the bodies, including a decapitated man and another whose face was completely disfigured, some residents denounced them as "executions."

Specifically, during this mission, 115 suspected criminals and four police officers reportedly died. The Public Defender's Office, a Rio state agency that provides legal assistance to the most vulnerable, reports a minimum of 132 deaths.

For the governor of the state of Rio, this mission is a "success".

This was one of the largest police operations ever seen in Brazil's most populous city. It mobilized 2,500 officers against Comando Vermelho, Rio's main criminal group. Speaking to the press, and displaying some of the firearms seized by authorities during the raid, Claudio Castro, the right-wing governor of Rio's state, hailed it as a "success."

Speaking to the press, Claudio Castro, governor of the state of Rio, spoke of "success".

For him, the only "victims" of this deadly episode were the police officers killed, refuting the death of innocent people.

Lula decided to convene several of his ministers in Brasilia on Wednesday for an "emergency meeting" with Governor Castro. The events of Tuesday drew widespread international condemnation.