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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the consequences of an extensive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He reported during the night, local residents commenced searching the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area organized the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all impacted me a lot: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at halting a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the final tally of fatalities at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

At a news conference the following day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

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

He added that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, vests, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse