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The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how community members came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - while others appeared "severely damaged", he reported. Many also had what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out.

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

The eyewitness reported that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He explained that evening, community members began to search the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all impacted me profoundly: the grief of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to stopping an illegal organization referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has succeeded to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs nationally, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background spanning over five decades.

Per reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and officials reported that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the government representative, described organization participants as drug terrorists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference the following day, the state leader defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He further explained that the situation had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

In a post through digital channels, he said that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and displayed evidence appearing to show a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse