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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how local people brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. They included security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of knife injuries.

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

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha arranged the located casualties in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the response of those present.

"The violence of it all shook me a lot: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a criminal group called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

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

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He further explained that the events intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the casualties presented by community members in the area were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been removed of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that military attire, vests, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse