Bruno Itan
A photographer who observed the results of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people brought back disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.
The casualties "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer reported. They included law enforcement personnel.
One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.
In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.
Bruno Itan reported that he initially learned about the operation early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.
The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the bodies were coming in.
The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the security measures were taking place.
"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."
Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.
He reported that Tuesday night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.
Community members living in Penha organized the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the people there.
"The violence of the situation shook me deeply: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.
Bruno Itan
The official of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.
At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.
They have since said that early calculations suggests 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 gang is the only criminal group that recently has been able to expand its territory across the region.
Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.
According to reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".
The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.
According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.
The governor of the state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.
Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled".
In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.
"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.
He continued that the events intensified as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."
The official additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".
Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces".
A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and presented video appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse
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