🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, stated he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing a gang known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

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 gang is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, gold, petroleum products, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the events intensified due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The governor further reported that the victims displayed by locals in the area had been "manipulated".

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

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse