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The photographer

A photographer who documented the consequences of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan described. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, stated he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all shook me a lot: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing a criminal group known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

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

The official of Rio state, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

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

He continued that the events worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they carried out and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The official further reported that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse