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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people returned with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that the police prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting an illegal organization called Red Command from growing their influence.

At first, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the total number of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with First Capital Command, and has a history extending half a century.

Per correspondent a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described organization participants as criminal extremists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, the official supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He further explained that the situation worsened as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that some of them had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, vests, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse