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The photographer

A photographer who documented the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how community members returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. Among them were security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the area, stated he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he stayed until dawn.

He reported during the night, community members began to search the elevated terrain which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images display the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation shook me deeply: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, crying, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The official of the region declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a gang known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the final tally of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances intensified as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse