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The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the results of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what appeared to be stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He reported during the night, community members began to search the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Residents living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing a gang known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals have been killed.

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

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, together with First Capital Command, and has a history extending half a century.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering crime in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

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

The official additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that military attire, vests, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and presented video apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse