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The photographer

A photographer who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how local people came back with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. They included those of police officers.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan reported that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from going into the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he was able to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to preventing a gang referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

At first, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

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

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs nationally, in company with First Capital Command, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter a specialist, who has been covering crime in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he said.

He added that the events had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official also said that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse