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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people came back with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images display the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation shook me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was designed to halting an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, local officials maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 individuals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of people killed at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, together with another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, precious metals, fuel, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members are well armed and police said that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the victims presented by community members in Penha were "altered".

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the victims and showed footage seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse