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The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the results of a massive security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation in the city.

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

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, explained he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos show the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me deeply: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, the Rio state government stated that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations shows that 117 individuals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the total number of casualties as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Based on reporter an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The state leader further reported that the bodies shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse