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Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. They included law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "severely damaged", he said. Many also had what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned about the operation early on Tuesday by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement stopped members of the press from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the area, stated he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Residents from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the people there.

"The brutality of it all affected me deeply: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing a gang known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

At first, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of people killed as 132.

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

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, together with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent a specialist, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials saying it was "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he declared.

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

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

Via a statement through digital channels, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse