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The eyewitness

A reporter who observed the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how community members brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - while others appeared "severely damaged", he said. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

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

The photographer reported that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the security measures was under way.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He described that evening, community members started looking the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos show the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of the state announced that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing a criminal group called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has estimated the overall count of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has managed to increase its control throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and called the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "appalled".

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

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the situation worsened because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official representing security forces additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse