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Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how local people returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned concerning the action Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness traveled to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were taking place.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he managed to make his way into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members started looking the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos show the response of the people there.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the pain of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping a gang referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the overall count of people killed as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per correspondent an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, labeled gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

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

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader further reported that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that military attire, vests, and arms" had been removed from the victims and presented video appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse