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The photographer

A photographer who observed the results of a massive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that evening, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping a criminal group known as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

At first, state authorities claimed that "60 suspects along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the victims shown by residents in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse