RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP)—At least eight people died Wednesday during a police operation against organized crime in Rio de Janeiro, including one of Brazil’s most-wanted drug lords, authorities said.

Around 150 members of the city’s elite BOPE military police unit, backed by two armored vehicles, deployed in several favelas near the touristy Santa Teresa neighborhood targeting a prominent narcotrafficker.

“A major armed confrontation ensued,” leading to the death of the target, Claudio Augusto dos Santos, 55, identified as a key figure within one of Brazil’s largest criminal groups, Comando Vermelho (Red Command), said military police chief Marcelo Menezes Nogueira.

Dos Santos had at least eight outstanding arrest warrants for kidnapping, drug trafficking, and homicide, Menezes Nogueira told a press conference.

He described Dos Santos as “a ruthless and bloodthirsty drug trafficker” who had 135 criminal charges on record.

Police also killed six other suspected criminals.

The eighth victim was a local resident who had been taken hostage along with his partner, who survived, Menezes Nogueira said. The fatality came when the hostage takers opened fire at police during talks to free the captives.

Officers also arrested 116 people and seized 21 guns, 105 kilograms of cocaine and 600 kilograms of marijuana, police said in a statement.

In retaliation for the police operation, a bus was set on fire on a major avenue in downtown Rio, and barricades were erected using other vehicles, AFP journalists witnessed.

“They boarded, told me to get the passengers off, and set the bus on fire. It all happened very fast,” the shaken driver, Marcio Souza told AFP, describing the situation as “horrible.”

Menezes Nogueira said that Red Command members were behind the actions which caused traffic chaos in the city center.

Rio de Janeiro has long battled territorial control by criminal factions and residents are weary of violence and chronic insecurity.

In October last year, the biggest police operation in Brazil’s history saw officers clash with heavily armed gang members in military gear. At least 117 suspected criminals and four police officers were killed.

Rights organizations slammed the raid, which President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called a “massacre.”

Polls, however, show that the majority of Brazilians approved of the operation and, as October elections loom, security has become the main concern for voters in the country.

Also on Wednesday, Brazilian police launched a separate operation across 15 states targeting organizations linked to drug and arms trafficking.

The police operations come as local media report that Lula’s government is lobbying Washington not to designate Red Command and the powerful First Capital Command (PCC) as terrorist organizations.

Brasilia considers the organized crime factions to be criminal and not terrorist organizations.

A State Department spokesperson told AFP that both organizations pose “significant threats to regional security,” but that advance notice was not given on such designations.