The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares fatal Rio law enforcement operation

The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness stated. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members living in Alemão, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

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

The eyewitness reported that security forces blocked media personnel from going into the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained during the night, local residents began to search the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos show the emotions of the people there.

"The harsh reality of it all impacted me profoundly: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, crying, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of the region declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to preventing a gang referred to as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials claimed that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations shows that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has put the overall count of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the government representative, described organization participants as drug terrorists and described the security forces killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

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

He added that the circumstances worsened because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that some of them had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse