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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what appeared to be knife injuries.

More than 120 people lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The photographer explained that he was first alerted about the operation in the early hours by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter traveled to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the hillside which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the photographer's images display the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of Rio state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to halting a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, fuel, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He further explained that the circumstances worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and presented video appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse