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The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has reported how community members came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the area, reported he was able to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he remained through the night.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people living in Penha organized the discovered victims in a square - the photographer's images show the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me deeply: the sorrow of the families, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping an illegal organization called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has calculated the total number of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Per reporter a specialist, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and described the four police officers who died during the operation as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and firearms" had been removed from the casualties and presented video appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse