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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how community members returned with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. They included those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.

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

The photographer stated that the police blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in a public space - and Itan's photos show the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a gang called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, gold, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the official supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the situation intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the victims shown by residents in the area were "altered".

In a post on social media, he claimed that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse