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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of a large-scale security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were security forces.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

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

Bruno Itan explained that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, explained he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued through the night.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the sorrow of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 individuals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

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

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He further explained that the situation intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse