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Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the results of a large-scale security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants started looking the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the discovered victims in an open area - and Itan's photos display the response of those present.

"The brutality of it all affected me profoundly: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 security personnel was intended to stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the overall count of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs nationally, together with another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the official justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He further explained that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they implemented and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The governor also said that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that military attire, body armor, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and presented video appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse