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The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the results of an extensive security raid in the Brazilian city has described how local people came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Security forces created a barrier and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, reported he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He described that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos display the response of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the grief of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of Rio state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a gang known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, together with First Capital Command, and has a history extending half a century.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He further explained that the events worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that military attire, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse