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Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the results of an extensive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

The photographer stated that the police blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He described that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area that borders Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images display the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation affected me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping a gang referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

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

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the final tally of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the situation had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he said that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse