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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how local people returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He reported during the night, local residents started looking the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos display the reaction of the people there.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The state leader of the region stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

At first, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the operation.

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

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to increase its control throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The gang focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the state, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of casualties in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

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

He continued that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official further reported that the victims displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were stripped from the victims and presented video appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse