The casualties continued piling up - eyewitness describes lethal Rio security action

The photographer

A photographer who observed the results of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has described how community members came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

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

One of the bodies was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he initially learned concerning the action early on Tuesday by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to the healthcare center, where the casualties were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and declared: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants began to search the hillside that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state declared that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a criminal group known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Originally, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

Authorities later reported that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the final tally of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

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

He continued that the situation intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that military attire, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse