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The photographer

A photographer who witnessed the results of a large-scale security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how local people brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He described that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a public space - and Itan's photos display the response of the people there.

"The brutality of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has estimated the total number of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

Per correspondent a specialist, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, gold, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He continued that the events had escalated because the suspects had retaliated: "It resulted of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse