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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

The photographer stated that the police prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the security measures were taking place.

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

But Itan, who grew up in the area, reported he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He reported that evening, local residents began to search the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, the Rio state government stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has calculated the final tally of people killed as 132.

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

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter a specialist, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The gang concentrates largely on drug trafficking, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

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

He added that the events had escalated because the suspects had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse