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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents came back with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer went to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he remained until dawn.

He described during the night, community members began to search the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me profoundly: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

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The official of Rio state declared that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and acting as "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, fuel, alcohol smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates are well armed and police said that during the raid, they came under attack using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He further explained that the events worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that particular individuals had been removed of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse