The victims kept arriving - photographer recounts fatal Rio security action

The eyewitness

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

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan explained that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, reported he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants commenced searching the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of the situation shook me a lot: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, the Rio state government claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, together with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

Per correspondent an expert, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, alcohol cigarettes.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The governor also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse