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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how local people came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. They included security forces.

A particular victim was found without a head - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he was able to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members began to search the elevated terrain which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area organized the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all impacted me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the region stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to preventing an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, local officials stated that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

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

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the final tally of fatalities as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

Based on correspondent an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, fuel, alcohol smoking products.

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

The governor of the region, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

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

In a post on social media, he said that certain victims had been taken of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse