The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares fatal Rio security action

The photographer

A reporter who observed the results of a massive security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how community members brought back mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that law enforcement stopped members of the press from accessing the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, stated he managed to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He reported that evening, community members began to search the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha organized the located casualties in a public space - the photographer's images display the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation affected me a lot: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a criminal group called Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the final tally of people killed as 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

Based on reporter a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and police said that during the raid, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that military attire, vests, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse