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The photographer

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from entering the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, reported he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed until dawn.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of Rio state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

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

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has put the final tally of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has managed to expand its territory across the region.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of fatalities in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

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

He added that the situation worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that military attire, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting a person stripping military attire {off a corpse