🔗 Share this article The victims kept arriving - reporter shares deadly Rio law enforcement operation The photographer Multiple casualties were laid out in an open area in Penha in the wake of the deadliest police raid in the city's history A reporter who observed the results of a large-scale security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how residents returned with disfigured remains of those who had died. The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the eyewitness stated. Among them were law enforcement personnel. A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries. In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced. Over 100 individuals were arrested as part of the police action The photographer reported that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted. The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought. The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way. "Security forces formed a line and said: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the area, explained he succeeded to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning. He reported that Tuesday night, community members commenced searching the hillside that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid. Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the located casualties in a square - the photographer's images show the emotions of those present. "The brutality of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled. The photographer There was shock in Penha as locals found additional victims from the nearby hillside The governor of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to halting a gang referred to as Red Command from increasing their control. Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" had been killed during the action. Officials subsequently stated that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives. The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has estimated the overall count of people killed at 132. Per investigative findings, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that recently has been able to increase its control across the region. Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, in company with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades. Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies". The criminal group concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in weapons, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages smoking products. Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft. The governor of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and called the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals. But the number of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "horrified". At a news conference on Wednesday, the official justified security actions. "It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he declared. He continued that the events had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals." The governor additionally stated that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood were "altered". Via a statement through digital channels, he said that some of them had been removed of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces". Felipe Curi representing security forces additionally stated that military attire, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse