The casualties continued piling up - eyewitness describes deadly Rio law enforcement operation

Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how community members returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned about the operation in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from entering the operation zone, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers created a barrier and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, explained he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - the documented evidence show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the grief of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, gold, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and referred to the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the events intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the bodies shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he said that some of them had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse