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The eyewitness

A photographer who witnessed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. Among them were security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the area, explained he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn.

He reported during the night, community members started looking the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos display the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of it all impacted me deeply: the pain of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of the state announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a criminal group referred to as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 individuals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background spanning over five decades.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse