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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the results of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the bodies were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he managed to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he continued through the night.

He described during the night, community members began to search the hillside which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Residents living in Penha organized the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence show the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The state leader of the state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 security personnel was aimed at halting an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, petroleum products, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

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

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

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

He further explained that the situation worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse