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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has described how local people came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos show the response of the people there.

"The violence of the situation impacted me profoundly: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, crying, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a gang referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has calculated the total number of casualties as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to reporter a specialist, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, gold, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the events intensified due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on online platforms, he said that certain victims had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and showed footage appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse