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The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how community members returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in the area, reported he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported during the night, community members commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of the situation impacted me profoundly: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state declared that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was designed to stopping a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

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

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the political leader, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of casualties during the raid has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the official justified security actions.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the events worsened because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame onto the police".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force also said that military attire, protective equipment, and arms" had been removed from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse