🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how local people brought back disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos display the emotions of those present.

"The violence of the situation impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was aimed at halting a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, the Rio state government stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the final tally of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He further explained that the events worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

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

In a post on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse