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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were coming in.

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

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He explained that evening, local residents began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members who had been missing after the operation.

Local people living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the response of those present.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, the Rio state government claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, together with a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the security forces who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post on social media, he said that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse