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Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. They included security forces.

One individual was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The photographer reported that he was first alerted about the operation Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

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

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He described that evening, community members commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members living in Penha organized the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images display the reaction of those present.

"The violence of the situation shook me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping a criminal group referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives in the operation.

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

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of fatalities to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has succeeded to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing the next day, the official justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He added that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and presented video appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse