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The photographer

A reporter who documented the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people brought back badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted to the raid early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer made his way to the healthcare center, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that the police prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the hillside that separates Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred affected me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state stated that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was designed to preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

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

According to researchers, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, gold, fuel, liquor and tobacco.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, the political leader, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, the official justified security actions.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He further explained that the situation had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the casualties shown by residents in the area had been "manipulated".

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi representing security forces further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse