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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of an extensive security raid in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people brought back badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan described. Among them were those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan reported that he was first alerted concerning the action in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness made his way to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the area, reported he was able to make his way into the restricted zone, where he stayed until dawn.

He reported that evening, community members began to search the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images display the response of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of the state announced that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a gang called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has put the overall count of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to correspondent a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, gold, energy resources, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as "heroes".

But the number of casualties during the raid has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He continued that the situation intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The governor further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse