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The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted concerning the action Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of the state stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the operation.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with First Capital Command, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities saying it was "horrified".

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

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the circumstances worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

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

Via a statement on online platforms, he claimed that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse