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The photographer

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents brought back disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the healthcare center, where the victims were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he managed to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He described that Tuesday night, community members began to search the mountainous area that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Community members from the Penha area proceeded to place the located casualties in an open area - the documented evidence display the reaction of the people there.

"The violence of it all shook me deeply: the pain of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, sobbing, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of Rio state stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was intended to stopping an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Originally, local officials maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the total number of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the situation intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that some of them had been taken of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, protective equipment, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse