🔗 Share this article The casualties continued piling up - photographer recounts fatal Rio police raid The eyewitness Dozens of bodies were displayed in a square in the Rio neighborhood in the wake of the most lethal operation Rio has ever seen A reporter who observed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died. The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. Among them were security forces. One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "severely damaged", he said. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma. More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city. In excess of 100 suspects were detained during the police action The photographer stated that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him there was a shoot-out. The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving. Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from entering the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring. "Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and declared: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night. He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid. Community members of the Penha neighbourhood organized the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the people there. "The harsh reality of it all impacted me deeply: the grief of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered. The eyewitness There was trauma in the neighborhood as community members found additional victims from the surrounding area The governor of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to halting an illegal organization known as Red Command from growing their influence. Originally, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation. Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured. The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of casualties as 132. Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to increase its control across the region. It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades. According to correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates". The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes. Per law enforcement statements, organization members possess significant weaponry and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives. The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals. Nevertheless, the total of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked". In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro defended the police force. "It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated. He further explained that the circumstances intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals." The official also said that the casualties displayed by locals in the area were "altered". Via a statement through digital channels, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police". A police official representing security forces additionally stated that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and presented video appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse