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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members brought back disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the police action were occurring.

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

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, explained he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported during the night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos display the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me deeply: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a gang known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the total number of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the official justified security actions.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on social media, he asserted that some of them had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse