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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has described how community members came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "totally disfigured", he said. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted about the operation Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

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

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the hillside that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the located casualties in a public space - the documented evidence show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all impacted me a lot: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The official of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at halting a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of casualties to be 132.

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

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, described Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the situation intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse