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The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the consequences of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how community members returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The bodies "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. Among them were those of police officers.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during Tuesday's raid on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the operation zone, where the police action were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He explained that Tuesday night, area inhabitants began to search the elevated terrain which divides the Penha neighborhood from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence reveal the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of Rio state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, local officials maintained that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has managed to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting criminal activity in the city for years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in weapons, gold, petroleum products, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, the political leader, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance on Wednesday, the state leader defended the police force.

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

He added that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the casualties shown by residents in Penha were "altered".

In a post through digital channels, he asserted that certain victims had been removed of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department also said that military attire, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the victims and presented video seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse