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Bruno Itan

A photographer who observed the results of an extensive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents returned with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The photographer explained that he initially learned to the raid early on Tuesday by local people living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, community members started looking the hillside that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos display the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of the situation shook me deeply: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a gang referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities claimed that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the overall count of fatalities at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter a specialist, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He continued that the events had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

Felipe Curi from the police department also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse