The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares fatal Rio law enforcement operation

The eyewitness

An eyewitness who observed the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents came back with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan described. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

The photographer stated that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members began to search the hillside that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos display the response of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a gang known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He continued that the situation intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The governor additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse