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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who documented the results of a massive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has described how residents returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

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

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, explained he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported that evening, local residents started looking the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Residents living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me profoundly: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 security personnel was aimed at stopping a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has put the total number of people killed at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, described organization participants as drug terrorists and described the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the security action has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He further explained that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the bodies shown by residents in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse