🔗 Share this article The bodies just kept coming - photographer recounts deadly Rio security action The photographer Multiple casualties were laid out in a square in northern Rio following the most lethal operation the municipality has experienced A reporter who documented the results of an extensive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has described how community members brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals. The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were security forces. A particular victim had been decapitated - while others appeared "severely damaged", he said. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma. More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city. More than 100 people were arrested in connection with the operation Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out. The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving. The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were taking place. "Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, stated he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn. He explained that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation. Residents from the Penha area organized the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos display the response of the gathered crowd. "The harsh reality of it all affected me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the photographer recalled. The eyewitness There was shock in the neighborhood as locals found more and more bodies from the adjacent terrain The governor of the region stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a gang known as the criminal faction from increasing their control. Initially, local officials claimed that "60 suspects along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation. They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured. The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the total number of people killed at 132. According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state. It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years. Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners". The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, liquor smoking products. According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft. The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals. But the number of casualties during the raid has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified". At a news conference the following day, the state leader justified security actions. "There was no objective to result in deaths. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he declared. He continued that the events had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals." The official additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in Penha were "altered". Through a message on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces". A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse