🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A reporter who observed the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how local people returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The photographer stated that he initially learned about the operation in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police prevented journalists from going into the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, stated he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that evening, local residents started looking the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Residents living in Penha organized the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence display the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of the situation shook me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of Rio state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has calculated the total number of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, in company with First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, gold, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the government representative, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as "heroes".

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

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

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He continued that the situation intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and showed footage appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse