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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how residents came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The bodies "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. They included security forces.

One individual was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer stated that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

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

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from accessing the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me a lot: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the final tally of fatalities to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the security action has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

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

He continued that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they carried out and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The governor additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the area had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi representing security forces additionally stated that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse