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The eyewitness

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how community members came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by community members living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who grew up in the area, reported he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He described that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents living in Penha organized the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images show the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to preventing an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

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

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, together with First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "appalled".

In a media appearance the next day, the official justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He further explained that the events intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official also said that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse