🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the aftermath of a massive security raid in the Brazilian city has described how local people returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

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

He explained during the night, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain which divides the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of those present.

"The violence of it all shook me deeply: the pain of loved ones, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has put the total number of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, Cláudio Castro, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

However, the count of casualties in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the events intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official also said that the victims shown by residents in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse