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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how local people returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, reported he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members started looking the mountainous area which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - and Itan's photos display the response of those present.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of Rio state stated that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping an illegal organization called Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of fatalities as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, fuel, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the bodies presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A police official representing security forces also said that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse