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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted about the operation in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the pain of loved ones, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state stated that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a criminal group referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, local officials stated that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has calculated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader defended the police force.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He further explained that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the casualties presented by community members in the area were "altered".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that tactical gear, vests, and firearms" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse