The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares fatal Rio law enforcement operation

Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - while others appeared "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He described during the night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all shook me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

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

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

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, gold, energy resources, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, described organization participants as criminal extremists and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

At a news conference the following day, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the circumstances worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the casualties presented by community members in the area had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he said that some of them had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse