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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how community members brought back disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer reported. They included security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that he was first alerted concerning the action Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the victims were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He described that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me deeply: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting an illegal organization called Red Command from growing their influence.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

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

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has estimated the overall count of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

According to reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the government representative, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials stating they were "appalled".

During a press briefing the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he said.

He continued that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official further reported that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the casualties and presented video apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse