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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the results of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how local people brought back disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan described. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

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

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the operation was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and said: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained until dawn.

He described during the night, community members commenced searching the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of Rio state announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 security personnel was aimed at halting an illegal organization referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

At first, local officials maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the final tally of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official supported law enforcement.

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

He continued that the situation worsened due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader further reported that the casualties shown by residents in the area were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that some of them had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and showed footage appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse