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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how residents came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from entering the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, explained he succeeded to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the hillside which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all impacted me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a criminal group called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals have been killed.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the overall count of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the government representative, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he said that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse