🔗 Share this article The victims kept arriving - reporter shares fatal Rio police raid The photographer Multiple casualties were arranged in a square in the Rio neighborhood in the wake of the bloodiest security action Rio has ever seen A photographer who observed the consequences of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents brought back badly injured victims of people who lost their lives. The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. They included security forces. A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries. More than 120 people lost their lives in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced. In excess of 100 suspects were taken into custody in connection with the security raid The photographer reported that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted. The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were arriving. The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place. "Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, reported he was able to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained through the night. He reported that evening, community members started looking the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation. Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the gathered crowd. "The violence of the situation shook me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered. The photographer There was shock in the community as residents recovered more and more bodies from the adjacent terrain The official of the region stated that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence. Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation. Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed. Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has calculated the final tally of people killed at 132. Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state. Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades. Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies". The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products. According to the authorities, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives. The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and described the security forces who died during the operation as courageous individuals. Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials saying it was "appalled". At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement. "It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated. He added that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members." The official additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the area had been "manipulated". Via a statement on social media, he said that some of them had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement". Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse