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The photographer

A photographer who observed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan described. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he said. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned about the operation in the early hours by residents from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Security forces established a perimeter and said: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members who had been missing after the operation.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a square - the documented evidence display the reaction of the people there.

"The harsh reality of what occurred affected me a lot: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of people killed at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the government representative, described Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "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 detain everyone safely," he declared.

He continued that the events worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in the area were "altered".

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse