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The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the consequences of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how local people came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. They included security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, reported he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He described during the night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation shook me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of the region declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the region, the government representative, described organization participants as drug terrorists and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the situation had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse