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Bruno Itan

A reporter who witnessed the results of an extensive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan described. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

More than 120 people lost their lives during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan explained that he initially learned to the raid early on Tuesday by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from entering the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha arranged the discovered victims in an open area - and Itan's photos display the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of the situation shook me profoundly: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

According to correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, fuel, beverages smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that during the raid, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, the government representative, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the security action has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the events worsened because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader further reported that the bodies presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a man stripping military attire {off a corpse