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Bruno Itan

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. They included security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted to the raid early on Tuesday by community members living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the bodies were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, stated he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members started looking the hillside that separates Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence show the reaction of those present.

"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The official of the region declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has calculated the overall count of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, described organization participants as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the situation had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader further reported that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

In a post on social media, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse