🔗 Share this article The casualties continued piling up - eyewitness describes deadly Rio security action The eyewitness Dozens of bodies were laid out in an open area in Penha after the bloodiest security action the municipality has experienced A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives. The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. They included those of police officers. A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries. In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid in the city. In excess of 100 suspects were detained in connection with the operation The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring. The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving. Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring. "Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn. He described that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the mountainous area that separates the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid. Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the gathered crowd. "The violence of what occurred shook me deeply: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered. The photographer There was shock in Penha as residents recovered more and more bodies from the surrounding area The governor of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was designed to stopping a gang referred to as the criminal faction from expanding its territory. At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" had been killed during the action. Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed. Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities as 132. According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has managed to expand its territory throughout Rio state. Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, together with a rival criminal group, with a background spanning over five decades. According to correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies". The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, but also smuggles firearms, gold, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products. Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft. The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals. Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked". At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement. "It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he declared. He further explained that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members." The state leader additionally stated that the victims shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered". Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility to security forces". Felipe Curi from the police department also said that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and firearms" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage appearing to show a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse