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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

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

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members started looking the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha organized the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images display the emotions of those present.

"The violence of it all impacted me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

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

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the bodies shown by residents in the area were "altered".

In a post on social media, he asserted that some of them had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that military attire, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and showed footage seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse