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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - while others appeared "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The photographer stated that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain which divides the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation shook me deeply: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of the state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials claimed that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates indicates that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has calculated the final tally of people killed at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, in company with another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, the gang "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials saying it was "appalled".

In a media appearance the next day, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the events worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official also said that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post on social media, he claimed that some of them had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, vests, and firearms" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse