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Bruno Itan

A photographer who observed the consequences of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how community members came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Many also had what appeared to be knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that law enforcement blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in that neighborhood, stated he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents commenced searching the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area organized the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me deeply: the sorrow of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing a criminal group called Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "business partners".

The criminal group engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in weapons, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol cigarettes.

Based on official reports, organization members have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the government representative, described Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, the official supported law enforcement.

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

He added that the events intensified as the individuals had retaliated: "It resulted of the counterattack they implemented and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

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

In a post on social media, he said that some of them had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse