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Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the aftermath of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has described how residents came back with mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The bodies "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. The total contained those of police officers.

A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

More than 120 people were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him telling him there was a shoot-out.

The photographer traveled to the healthcare center, where the bodies were being brought.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in that neighborhood, reported he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he stayed until dawn.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the mountainous area that separates the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in a public space - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of it all affected me deeply: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, weeping, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping a criminal group known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" lost their lives in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang is the only criminal group which in recent years has been able to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

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

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in firearms, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed during the raid has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We wanted to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared.

He continued that the events worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and firearms" were taken away from the casualties and showed footage seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse