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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness stated. They included those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The photographer explained that he initially learned about the operation early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images display the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a gang referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities stated that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the government representative, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he asserted that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that military attire, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse