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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

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

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the response of those present.

"The brutality of it all affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to halting a criminal group called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of fatalities to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, in company with another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the circumstances intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader further reported that the victims presented by community members in Penha were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official representing security forces further reported that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse