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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness stated. They included security forces.

One individual was found without a head - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

Itan explained that the police prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported during the night, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain that separates the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing after the operation.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood organized the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence show the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of the situation shook me deeply: the grief of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at preventing an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, local officials claimed that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the final tally of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

However, the count of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, the official supported law enforcement.

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

He continued that the situation intensified as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were stripped from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse