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A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how community members brought back mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were those of police officers.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - others were "completely mutilated", he said. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned concerning the action early on Tuesday by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, local residents commenced searching the mountainous area which divides the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred shook me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort with approximately 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at halting a criminal group known as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, state authorities maintained that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that recently has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking guns, valuable minerals, fuel, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the state, the government representative, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism from UN human rights officials saying it was "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He added that the situation intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the retaliation they executed and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the casualties displayed by locals in the area had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he said that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse