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The photographer

A reporter who documented the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how community members came back with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The victims "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", the photographer reported. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the police action was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in that neighborhood, explained he succeeded to gain access past the security perimeter, where he stayed until the next morning.

He explained that evening, community members started looking the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in a public space - the documented evidence display the emotions of those present.

"The violence of what occurred impacted me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The governor of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to halting a criminal group called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities maintained that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives during the action.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has put the final tally of fatalities to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has succeeded to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city extensively, Red Command "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled organization participants as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

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

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

He continued that the situation worsened because the suspects fought back: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official also said that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post through digital channels, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that military attire, protective equipment, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse