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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents came back with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer made his way to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He described during the night, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of it all impacted me deeply: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing an illegal organization known as Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the total number of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles firearms, precious metals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the security forces who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials saying it was "appalled".

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

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He further explained that the situation worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse