The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares deadly Rio police raid

The eyewitness

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how residents brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during the security action against a criminal group - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and declared: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants started looking the mountainous area which divides Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of the situation impacted me profoundly: the pain of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 security personnel was aimed at stopping a criminal group known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the operation.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

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

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has been able to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, together with First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Based on reporter a specialist, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking guns, gold, petroleum products, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the situation worsened due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that some of them had been removed of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A police official representing security forces further reported that military attire, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse