🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how local people returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness explained that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and said: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence show the reaction of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the region declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping a gang called Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities stated that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

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

The governor of the state, the political leader, described organization participants as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, the official supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official also said that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

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

A law enforcement representative representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, vests, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and presented video appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse