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The photographer

A photographer who documented the results of an extensive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people brought back disfigured remains of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan reported. They included security forces.

A particular victim was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The photographer stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

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

Itan explained that security forces prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, explained he succeeded to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, community members started looking the hillside that separates Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images display the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation shook me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The official of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 security personnel was intended to halting an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals along with four officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view as a major illegal faction in the country, together with a rival criminal group, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city 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 drug trafficking, but also smuggles guns, gold, fuel, beverages smoking products.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the region, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the security forces killed in the raid as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He further explained that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The governor also said that the casualties displayed by locals in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that particular individuals had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse