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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the results of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how community members returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. The total contained security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from entering the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until dawn.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred shook me a lot: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping a criminal group referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader defended the police force.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, vests, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and presented video appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse