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The photographer

A photographer who documented the consequences of an extensive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how local people brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. The total contained security forces.

A particular victim had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the affected area, where the security measures were taking place.

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

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, explained he managed to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until the next morning.

He described during the night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Residents of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of the situation impacted me deeply: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping an illegal organization known as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

They have since said that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has calculated the final tally of casualties at 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in the country, alongside a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter a specialist, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The gang concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The official of the state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of fatalities in the security action 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 state leader defended the police force.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the circumstances intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they implemented and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties presented by community members in Penha were "altered".

In a post through digital channels, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped 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 also said that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse