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Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the results of a large-scale security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people came back with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. They included those of police officers.

One individual had been decapitated - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan reported that he initially learned to the raid early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the area, reported he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he remained through the night.

He described during the night, local residents began to search the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing since the police raid.

Residents living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos display the emotions of those present.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of the state announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the final tally of fatalities to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, petroleum products, liquor and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the government representative, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

During a press briefing the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He further explained that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the casualties shown by residents in Penha were "altered".

Through a message through digital channels, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a person stripping military attire {off a corpse