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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents brought back badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer reported. Among them were those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

The photographer stated that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

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

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the operation were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who grew up in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to enter past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He described that evening, local residents commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area organized the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all shook me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The governor of the state announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at preventing a gang known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of casualties as 132.

According to researchers, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the region, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the security forces killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the state leader justified security actions.

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

He added that the events had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

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

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, vests, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse