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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out informing him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, explained he succeeded to enter past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He explained during the night, local residents began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me a lot: the grief of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of Rio state declared that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a criminal group called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the overall count of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Based on reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, energy resources, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, the government representative, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He continued that the situation intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

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

In a post on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the victims and presented video appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse