🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who documented the results of an extensive security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how community members returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. They included those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members started looking the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images show the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me a lot: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, women carrying children, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a gang called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of casualties as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Based on reporter an expert, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the region, the political leader, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

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 the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He continued that the events intensified as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame onto the police".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force also said that military attire, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse