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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the results of an extensive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. They included those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a square - the documented evidence display the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the overall count of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Based on reporter a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, the official justified security actions.

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

He further explained that the events had escalated because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse