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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of an extensive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness described. Among them were those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted concerning the action in the early hours by residents from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces created a barrier and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation impacted me deeply: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

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

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

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

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the events had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official also said that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse