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The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how residents came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One individual was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness explained that he was first alerted about the operation in the early hours by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to a local medical facility, where the bodies were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who grew up in the area, stated he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued through the night.

He described during the night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The harsh reality of the situation affected me a lot: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of Rio state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was intended to stopping a gang referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the overall count of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the political leader, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

However, the count of casualties during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the state leader justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He further explained that the events worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official additionally stated that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the casualties and presented video apparently demonstrating a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse