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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the results of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

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

One individual was found without a head - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents began to search the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of what occurred affected me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

At first, local officials claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the total number of fatalities as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, gold, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official justified security actions.

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

He further explained that the circumstances intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The official also said that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse