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The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the results of a massive law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has described how community members brought back disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. Among them were security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had evidence of stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer explained that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

The eyewitness reported that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that evening, area inhabitants started looking the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha organized the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the sorrow of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state announced that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to preventing a gang called the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities at 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The gang engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that while the action was underway, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he said.

He added that the events worsened because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force from the gang members."

The governor further reported that the victims displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on online platforms, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that military attire, vests, and firearms" were stripped from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse