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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of an extensive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness reported. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Many also had what he described as knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, 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 the police blocked media personnel from accessing the operation zone, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and said: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who grew up in the area, reported he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He explained during the night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area that borders Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Residents living in Penha proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence display the response of the people there.

"The violence of it all impacted me deeply: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state declared that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a criminal group called Red Command from growing their influence.

At first, local officials maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the total number of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

However, the count of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the situation intensified as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

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

Through a message on social media, he said that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official from the police department further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the bodies and presented video appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse