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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. They included security forces.

One individual was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the bodies were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from entering the affected area, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and said: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed through the night.

He reported during the night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me profoundly: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was designed to halting an illegal organization known as Red Command from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities stated that "60 suspects and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, alcohol cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed during the raid has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "appalled".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He continued that the events had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

In a post on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse