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The photographer

A photographer who documented the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people brought back badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the area, explained he managed to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he continued through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of Rio state announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was intended to halting an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

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

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the final tally of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, gold, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the events worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The official also said that the victims shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse