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The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the consequences of a massive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has reported how community members came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan stated. They included security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the bloodiest action in the city.

Bruno Itan stated that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the area, explained he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He reported that evening, local residents commenced searching the hillside which divides Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of what occurred shook me a lot: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to stopping an illegal organization referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

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

Based on expert analysis, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

According to reporter a specialist, who has been covering crime in Rio over many years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and serving as "business partners".

The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members are well armed and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the state leader justified security actions.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse