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The photographer

A reporter who observed the results of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he continued through the night.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of the situation impacted me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 security personnel was intended to halting an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on correspondent a specialist, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, gold, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He further explained that the events had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A police official from the police department further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse