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The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how residents returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. They included security forces.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos show the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the final tally of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, together with First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing the next day, the official supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He added that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the victims presented by community members in the area had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that some of them had been taken of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" had been removed from the bodies and presented video appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse