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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how residents returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. They included those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Several bodies showed what appeared to be blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

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

The eyewitness went to the healthcare center, where the victims were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the area, stated he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants commenced searching the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the grief of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to stopping an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the overall count of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

According to reporter a specialist, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on online platforms, he claimed that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were taken away from the victims and presented video appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse