The bodies just kept coming - reporter shares fatal Rio law enforcement operation

Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how residents brought back mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that the police prevented journalists from entering the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that evening, community members commenced searching the hillside that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing after the operation.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the sorrow of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region stated that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to preventing a criminal group known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of casualties as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, fuel, liquor and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the casualties presented by community members in the area were "altered".

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

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse