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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how residents came back with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted concerning the action in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

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

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, community members started looking the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred affected me a lot: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of the region stated that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a gang referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has calculated the overall count of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background extending half a century.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles firearms, precious metals, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the events worsened because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces further reported that military attire, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage seemingly depicting a person stripping military attire {off a corpse