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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer stated. Among them were those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer explained that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, reported he succeeded to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence show the emotions of those present.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The state leader of the state declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing an illegal organization referred to as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations shows that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the final tally of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and serving as "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, precious metals, fuel, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and police said that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and described the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the situation worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official also said that the bodies shown by residents in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse