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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how residents brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him about the operation early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces created a barrier and declared: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The governor of the state announced that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials claimed that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the overall count of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside First Capital Command, with a background spanning over five decades.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "appalled".

At a news conference the following day, the official justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official also said that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were stripped from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse