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

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how local people brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned to the raid early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until dawn.

He described during the night, community members began to search the mountainous area that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The official of the region stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

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

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles guns, gold, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and police said that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he said.

He further explained that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The governor additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A police official from the police department additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the casualties and presented video appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse