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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has described how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by community members living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that the police stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until dawn.

He described during the night, local residents began to search the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos show the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The governor of the state announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a criminal group called Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with a rival criminal group, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to correspondent a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, fuel, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing the following day, the state leader defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and presented video appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse