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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. Among them were security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the bodies were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were occurring.

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos display the response of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation affected me profoundly: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state stated that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing a gang called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the final tally of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to expand its territory across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent a specialist, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, gold, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances intensified as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The state leader further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message through digital channels, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A police official representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse