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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how local people came back with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness reported. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim was discovered headless - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid 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 residents living in Alemão, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to the healthcare center, where the casualties were arriving.

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

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and said: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, local residents commenced searching the hillside which divides Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of it all impacted me profoundly: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to halting a gang referred to as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, local officials maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the overall count of people killed at 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Based on reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, gold, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

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

He added that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the casualties and showed footage seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse