The casualties continued piling up - eyewitness describes fatal Rio police raid

The photographer

A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the bloodiest action in the city.

The photographer stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the security measures was under way.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he managed to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Community members from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images show the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a criminal group known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the overall count of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the region, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The governor also said that the casualties shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse