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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how community members brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

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

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted to the raid early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter made his way to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the police action were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to enter past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He explained during the night, local residents began to search the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of the situation shook me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The official of Rio state declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities stated that "60 suspects and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "appalled".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the situation worsened due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

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

Through a message on social media, he claimed that some of them had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department also said that tactical gear, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse