🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A reporter who observed the aftermath of a massive security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how residents came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan described. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer went to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the area, reported he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported during the night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives during the action.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor also said that the casualties presented by community members in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and presented video appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse