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Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the aftermath of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

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

The photographer stated that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness traveled to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

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

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in a square - the photographer's images display the reaction of the people there.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing a criminal group known as Red Command from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has put the overall count of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, precious metals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

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

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse