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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the consequences of a massive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has described how residents came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan reported that he was first alerted about the operation Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces created a barrier and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, reported he was able to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he remained through the night.

He described that Tuesday night, community members began to search the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos show the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of it all affected me deeply: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a criminal group referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

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

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

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

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that while the action was underway, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

However, the count of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the state leader defended the police force.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He added that the situation had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the bodies shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse