The casualties continued piling up - photographer recounts fatal Rio police raid

The photographer

A photographer who documented the aftermath of a large-scale law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people came back with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the photographer described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him about the operation Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that the police prevented journalists from going into the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Police officers established a perimeter and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, stated he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that borders Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - the documented evidence reveal the reaction of those present.

"The violence of the situation impacted me profoundly: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of the state announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to halting a gang called Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside another major gang, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Per correspondent an expert, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "business partners".

The criminal group engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages and tobacco.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the state, Cláudio Castro, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Governor Castro justified security actions.

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

He added that the circumstances worsened due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

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

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been removed of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A police official from the police department further reported that military attire, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse