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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how residents returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported that evening, local residents started looking the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in a public space - and Itan's photos show the response of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the overall count of fatalities as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of casualties in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the situation had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the casualties presented by community members in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A police official representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse