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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has described how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. They included security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he said. Several bodies showed evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that he was first alerted to the raid early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages telling him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the casualties were arriving.

Itan explained that the police prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He described during the night, community members began to search the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence show the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred shook me deeply: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region announced that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was designed to stopping a gang known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

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

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the overall count of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per correspondent an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, gold, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as criminal extremists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The official also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the victims and presented video appearing to show a person stripping military attire {off a corpse