The casualties continued piling up - photographer recounts deadly Rio police raid

Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer reported that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the hillside which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images display the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me a lot: the grief of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a gang called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, local officials stated that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the total number of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, valuable minerals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the state, the government representative, described organization participants as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, the official supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He further explained that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor additionally stated that the victims presented by community members in the area had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse