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Bruno Itan

A photographer who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents came back with disfigured remains of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he reported. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by community members living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the security measures were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the area, stated he was able to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he continued through the night.

He reported during the night, area inhabitants started looking the mountainous area that borders Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in a square - the photographer's images reveal the response of the people there.

"The violence of the situation affected me a lot: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region declared that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has put the total number of people killed as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, in company with another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

According to reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and described the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He added that the circumstances intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official further reported that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on online platforms, he said that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse