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Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted about the operation in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He described that evening, community members began to search the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents living in Penha proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to halting an illegal organization called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of casualties as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that throughout the operation, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

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

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and arms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video seemingly depicting a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse