🔗 Share this article

The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents brought back mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he reported. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, explained he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued through the night.

He reported that evening, community members commenced searching the hillside that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents living in Penha organized the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The state leader of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

At first, state authorities stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, the gang "functions as a network" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, gold, fuel, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the official supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse