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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has reported how residents brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported during the night, local residents commenced searching the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing following the security action.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in a public space - the documented evidence display the response of those present.

"The brutality of the situation shook me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to preventing a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, the Rio state government stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Per correspondent an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking weapons, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the state, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He further explained that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that military attire, vests, and arms" had been removed from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse