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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was discovered headless - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

More than 120 people lost their lives in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who sent him messages telling him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The photographer stated that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

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

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported during the night, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images show the response of those present.

"The brutality of the situation impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The state leader of the state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Originally, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the final tally of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders joining the organization and serving as "commercial associates".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that while the action was underway, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The official also said that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse