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Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the results of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how residents returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the bodies were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the area, explained he managed to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Community members living in Penha arranged the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images display the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was intended to stopping a gang called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, gold, energy resources, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He added that the situation worsened due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor also said that the bodies presented by community members in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that military attire, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse