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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the consequences of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents brought back disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The victims "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He described that evening, community members started looking the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a square - the photographer's images show the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of it all shook me a lot: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization known as Red Command from increasing their control.

Originally, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the final tally of casualties as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs nationally, in company with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as "heroes".

But the number of people killed during the raid has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He continued that the events had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the bodies shown by residents in Penha had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that some of them had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse