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The photographer

A photographer who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how community members returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. They included those of police officers.

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

Over 120 individuals lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan reported that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that law enforcement blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, explained he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - the photographer's images show the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of the region announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 security personnel was aimed at halting an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

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

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has succeeded to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, gold, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the government representative, described Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

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

He continued that the events intensified due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The official also said that the victims shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that some of them had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse