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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. They included security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that the police prevented journalists from accessing the affected area, where the security measures was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, explained he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation shook me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state stated that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping a criminal group called Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He added that the events intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The official further reported that the victims presented by community members in the area were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and showed footage seemingly depicting a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse