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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how local people came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. Among them were security forces.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

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

The photographer stated that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants began to search the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a square - the photographer's images show the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of the situation impacted me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to halting a gang known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of casualties as 132.

According to researchers, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The gang engages primarily in narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the state leader justified security actions.

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

He further explained that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department also said that military attire, vests, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse