🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A photographer who documented the aftermath of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, stated he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos show the response of those present.

"The violence of it all shook me deeply: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of the region stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a gang referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, local officials stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, gold, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the political leader, described Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the state leader justified security actions.

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

He added that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that particular individuals had been removed of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse