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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned about the operation early on Tuesday by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that evening, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that borders Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

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

At first, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has calculated the overall count of fatalities as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per reporter a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and police said that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the political leader, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the security action has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He added that the events had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

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

In a post on social media, he asserted that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were taken away from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse