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

The eyewitness

An eyewitness who witnessed the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how community members brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

The photographer stated that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He explained during the night, community members began to search the hillside that borders Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of the situation affected me deeply: the pain of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that early calculations shows that 117 "suspects" have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to the poor, has calculated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to correspondent an expert, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of people killed in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

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

Via a statement on online platforms, he said that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse