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The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the aftermath of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "severely damaged", he reported. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He described that evening, area inhabitants began to search the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me a lot: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

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

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

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

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history extending half a century.

According to correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, gold, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference the next day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he said.

He further explained that the circumstances had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and presented video appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse