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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the bodies were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the operation zone, where the security measures was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, reported he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members commenced searching the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Residents from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence display the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

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

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city extensively, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, gold, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the state, Cláudio Castro, described organization participants as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the state leader defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the events worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse