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The photographer

A reporter who documented the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how community members brought back disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

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

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him concerning the action early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were occurring.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He reported during the night, community members commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood organized the discovered victims in a square - the photographer's images show the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me a lot: the pain of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

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

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has calculated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has been able to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, Cláudio Castro, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

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

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the situation intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they carried out and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims shown by residents in the area were "altered".

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

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse