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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who observed the results of an extensive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. Among them were those of police officers.

One individual was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he initially learned about the operation in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, explained he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He described during the night, area inhabitants began to search the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the grief of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, the Rio state government stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Based on correspondent a specialist, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

But the number of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He continued that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

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

Through a message on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse