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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how residents brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. Among them were those of police officers.

One of the bodies was found without a head - while others appeared "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

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

The photographer stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that evening, local residents began to search the hillside that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images show the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me a lot: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at halting a gang known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the total number of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, together with First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades.

Per correspondent a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He further explained that the events had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on social media, he said that some of them had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse