Gang kills around 40 in church attack on displaced people near Port-au-Prince
Gang members stormed a displaced persons camp inside a church in Kenscoff, Haiti, killing around 40 people, some execution-style, on Sunday night.
Dozens killed as gang raids church shelter in Kenscoff hills
Gang members attacked a camp for displaced people housed inside a church in the town of Kenscoff, southeast of Port-au-Prince, killing around 40 people on Sunday night, the Jamaica Observer reports, citing AFP.
"We have counted around 40 bodies. Searches are continuing. Some people are still missing," Kenscoff mayor Massillon Jean told AFP on Monday. Jean described what he called "a night of terror" in a town that has been plagued by gang violence for months.
Among the targets was a site sheltering people who had already fled violence elsewhere in the country. "The bandits raided a displaced persons camp located in a church. They executed several people. There are fatalities and dozens of wounded. Some people were abducted by the criminals," Jean said.
The office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime issued a statement expressing "deep compassion" for bereaved families and all victims. The government also announced that reinforcements would be deployed to restore security in the area.
Kenscoff is a mountainous municipality that has for several months been the scene of clashes and incursions by armed groups seeking to expand their territorial control.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has endured years of chronic political instability, natural disasters, corruption and gang violence. Armed groups control much of the capital and carry out killings, rapes, looting and kidnappings on a large scale.
Nearly 1.5 million Haitians are currently displaced in a country of approximately 11 million people, and more than five million face severe food insecurity, according to UN figures. The crisis deepened in early 2024 when a surge of gang violence forced the then-unelected prime minister to resign.
Haiti has held no elections since 2016. Its last president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in July 2021. A general election is scheduled for December of this year.
Source: Jamaica Observer