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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has described how residents returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness stated. They included those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that the police stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, stated he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the mountainous area which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images reveal the response of those present.

"The brutality of it all affected me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of Rio state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a criminal group known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "operational allies".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles weapons, gold, fuel, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as brave public servants.

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

In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that some of them had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame to security forces".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse