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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has reported how community members came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the hillside which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people living in Penha organized the discovered victims in a public space - the photographer's images show the response of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting an illegal organization called Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the overall count of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the government representative, described gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The governor further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the area had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse