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The photographer

A reporter who documented the aftermath of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

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

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that law enforcement blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the area, explained he managed to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He described during the night, community members began to search the mountainous area that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a gang known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

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

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members are well armed and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

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

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He further explained that the circumstances worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse