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Bruno Itan

A photographer who observed the results of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how community members returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. They included security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted concerning the action in the early hours by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained through the night.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members living in Penha arranged the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos display the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting a gang referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, the Rio state government stated that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

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

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the overall count of people killed as 132.

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

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist a specialist, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified".

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

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the resistance they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a person stripping military attire {off a corpse