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The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the aftermath of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. Among them were those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The photographer reported that he initially learned concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a square - the photographer's images show the response of those present.

"The violence of it all impacted me profoundly: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at halting an illegal organization referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

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

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has put the total number of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, in company with another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

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

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He added that the situation worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

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

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse