The bodies just kept coming - reporter shares deadly Rio police raid

The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how local people brought back mutilated bodies of those who had died.

The victims "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. The total contained security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed evidence of stab wounds.

More than 120 people lost their lives in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The photographer explained that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the security measures was under way.

"Police officers formed a line and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who was raised in the community, stated he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He explained that evening, local residents began to search the mountainous area that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the recovered bodies in a square - the photographer's images display the reaction of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me profoundly: the pain of the families, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of Rio state announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was designed to halting an illegal organization known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty individuals and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 alleged criminals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has long reported on crime in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and serving as "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, but also smuggles firearms, valuable minerals, fuel, alcohol 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 state leader of Rio state, the political leader, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and referred to the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He further explained that the situation intensified as the individuals fought back: "It resulted of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The governor further reported that the casualties presented by community members in the area had been "tampered with".

In a post through digital channels, he said that some of them had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" were taken away from the casualties and presented video appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse