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

Bruno Itan

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

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One individual had been decapitated - others were "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, explained he succeeded to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images display the reaction of those present.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region declared that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials claimed that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 individuals have been killed.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has estimated the total number of fatalities to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has managed to increase its control throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

Based on reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, gold, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

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

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He further explained that the events worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official further reported that the victims shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, protective equipment, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and showed footage seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse