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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he said. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that he was first alerted about the operation Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces created a barrier and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, explained he was able to make his way into the restricted zone, where he remained through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members began to search the hillside that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of the situation impacted me deeply: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of Rio state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to halting a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, together with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to Brazilian journalist a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and acting as "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, precious metals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as drug terrorists and described the security forces killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, the official defended the police force.

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

He added that the situation had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

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

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, body armor, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and presented video seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse