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An eyewitness who documented the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness described. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was found without a head - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness stated that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who contacted him telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that the police blocked media personnel from accessing the operation zone, where the operation was under way.

"Security forces established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, stated he was able to gain access past the security perimeter, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that evening, community members commenced searching the mountainous area which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence display the emotions of the people there.

"The brutality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the pain of loved ones, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The state leader of Rio state stated that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was intended to halting an illegal organization called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that initial estimates shows that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has calculated the overall count of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

According to correspondent a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and serving as "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and called the law enforcement personnel who died during the operation as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of people killed during the raid has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

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

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

He added that the circumstances had escalated because the suspects had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he said that certain victims had been stripped of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse