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The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how local people came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness reported. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies was found without a head - while others appeared "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action in the city.

The photographer explained that he initially learned about the operation early on Tuesday by residents living in Alemão, who reached out informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

Itan explained that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Security forces created a barrier and said: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he managed to enter past the security perimeter, where he continued through the night.

He reported during the night, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a criminal group called the criminal faction from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on crime in Rio over many years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The gang concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Per law enforcement statements, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, the political leader, described organization participants as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked".

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

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the situation had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The governor additionally stated that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post through digital channels, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

Felipe Curi of Rio's civil police force also said that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse