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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how local people returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by community members living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, explained he was able to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the hillside that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood organized the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of it all impacted me profoundly: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to stopping an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the security forces who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He added that the events intensified as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor further reported that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that tactical gear, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse