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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan described. They included security forces.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him about the operation early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the bodies were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the area, explained he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos display the response of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me deeply: the grief of the families, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a gang called Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed during the action.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the overall count of people killed at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, gold, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader 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.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, the official supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse