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The photographer

A photographer who observed the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how residents brought back disfigured remains of those who had died.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. They included security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

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

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to enter past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that evening, local residents started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of Rio state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the overall count of people killed as 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in the country, together with First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled Red Command members as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the events had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor also said that the bodies presented by community members in the area were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that military attire, vests, and arms" had been removed from the victims and showed footage seemingly depicting a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse