The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares fatal Rio security action

The eyewitness

A photographer who documented the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how residents brought back disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness described. They included security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him about the operation early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he was able to make his way into the restricted zone, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that evening, local residents started looking the mountainous area that borders Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in an open area - and Itan's photos display the response of those present.

"The violence of what occurred shook me deeply: the sorrow of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing a gang called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives during the action.

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

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has calculated the overall count of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

At a news conference the following day, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He added that the events worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The governor additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on social media, he said that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

Felipe Curi representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse