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The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer reported. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him to the raid early on Tuesday by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

Itan explained that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the area, reported he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area which divides Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of Rio state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to preventing a gang known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as "heroes".

But the number of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He continued that the situation intensified because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the bodies and presented video appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse