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The eyewitness

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how local people brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan described. The total contained security forces.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

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

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and declared: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, stated he managed to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until the next morning.

He explained that evening, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence show the reaction of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me deeply: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state stated that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a gang known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials claimed that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the overall count of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city extensively, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, the official supported law enforcement.

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

He added that the circumstances worsened because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A police official representing security forces also said that military attire, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse