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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the results of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how community members returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer stated. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed until dawn.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all shook me deeply: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of Rio state announced that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing a criminal group known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the overall count of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "commercial associates".

The criminal group concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the political leader, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the security forces 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 stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader defended the police force.

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

He further explained that the situation worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse