The casualties continued piling up - photographer recounts fatal Rio security action

The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how local people returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. Among them were security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter traveled to the healthcare center, where the casualties were arriving.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images show the emotions of those present.

"The violence of the situation affected me profoundly: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing a criminal group called Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, local officials claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the total number of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group which in recent years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering crime in Rio over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that throughout the operation, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

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

He continued that the situation had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The official further reported that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he claimed that some of them had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A police official representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, vests, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and presented video appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse