🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A photographer who documented the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how community members returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness reported. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by residents from the Alemão area, who sent him messages telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people living in Penha organized the located casualties in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a gang called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has calculated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on correspondent a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, described Red Command members as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He further explained that the events worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in the area had been "tampered with".

In a post on online platforms, he said that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse