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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who documented the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how community members came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

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

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages telling him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, explained he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all shook me a lot: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, expectant spouses, crying, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a gang known as Red Command from growing their influence.

At first, local officials stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the total number of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, fuel, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official also said that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that some of them had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and arms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video seemingly depicting a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse