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

The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. They included security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he said. Several bodies showed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages telling him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, stated he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until the next morning.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos display the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of it all shook me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a criminal group known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the overall count of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to correspondent an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, valuable minerals, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials saying it was "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, the state leader defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the events intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post through digital channels, he said that some of them had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse