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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the consequences of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn.

He reported during the night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all affected me profoundly: the grief of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting an illegal organization called the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has put the total number of fatalities as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per correspondent a specialist, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

In a media appearance the next day, the state leader justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the events had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they implemented and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The official further reported that the bodies shown by residents in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse