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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has described how local people returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. They included those of police officers.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan stated that residents first notified him to the raid in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who reached out telling him gunfire had erupted.

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

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the security measures was under way.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he succeeded to gain access into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed through the night.

He explained during the night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the photographer's images show the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of the situation shook me profoundly: the grief of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a criminal group called the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, local officials stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of casualties as 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, gold, energy resources, liquor and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the next day, the official justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor also said that the victims displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on online platforms, he asserted that particular individuals had been stripped of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse