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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who documented the results of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how community members came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

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

A particular victim was discovered headless - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the mountainous area that separates Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence display the reaction of those present.

"The violence of the situation affected me deeply: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of the state declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 officers was intended to stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, the political leader, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He continued that the circumstances intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse