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Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has reported how residents returned with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to the healthcare center, where the victims were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in that neighborhood, reported he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he remained until dawn.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members started looking the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the located casualties in a square - the documented evidence display the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred shook me a lot: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a criminal group called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

Based on Brazilian journalist an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles guns, gold, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, described organization participants as drug terrorists and described the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance the next day, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he stated.

He further explained that the situation intensified as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The official also said that the victims shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" had been removed from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse