Scores of people including three infants were killed in a gang attack in central Haiti, the United Nations Human Rights Office said in a statement on Friday.
Members of the Gran Grif gang used automatic rifles to kill at least 70 people on Thursday, including 10 women and three infants, according to the UN.
At least 16 people were seriously injured in the attack, including two gang members hit during an exchange of fire with Haitian police, the UN said. The gang members also set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 vehicles, forcing some residents to flee.
The International Organization for Migration said more than 6,000 people had been displaced by the violence.
The Haitian Ministry of Health said it had mobilized to respond to the incident but faced challenges accessing the site due to the tense security situation. “Despite an extremely difficult security context, the victims of this attack are being cared for by local institutions,” the ministry said.
Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille offered his condolences to those affected by the attack and said law enforcement would be “stepping up its response.”
“This odious crime, perpetrated against defenseless women, men, and children, is not only an attack on these victims but on the entire Haitian nation,” he added.
Gran Grif is the most powerful gang in Artibonite, according to the UN. Last month, Luckson Elan, the gang’s alleged leader, was sanctioned by the United States for “serious human rights abuse including kidnapping, murder, beating, and raping of women and children.”
Gang violence in Haiti has proliferated in recent years, with attacks becoming more brazen and violent. The UN reports that at least 3,661 people have been killed since January this year.
In June, foreign security forces arrived in Haiti as part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, designed to provide security and restore law and order to the Caribbean nation.
In the wake of Thursday’s attack, the UN called for additional financial and logistical aid for the MSS. It also called for a “prompt and thorough investigation” into the attack and “reparations for the victims and their families.”
CNN has reached out to the Haitian National Police for comment.
“To those who sow terror, I say this: you will not break our resolve,” said Conille. “You will not subdue this people who have always fought for their dignity and freedom. We will never give up our right to live in peace, in security, and in justice.”
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille denounced the attack on X, saying an “odious crime against defenceless women, men and children is not only an attack against victims but against the entire Haitian nation”.
“To those who sow terror, I say this: you will not break our resolve. You will not subdue this people who have always fought for their dignity and freedom. We will never give up our right to live in peace, in security, and in justice,” Conille said.
The prime minister’s office said on Friday that additional security forces, supported by the Kenyan-led international policing mission, had been deployed overnight to deal with the attack.
However, Gran Grif’s leader, Luckson Elan, whom the UN has sanctioned, blamed the government and victims of the attack for remaining passive as gang members were killed.
“It’s Pont-Sonde residents who are at fault. What happened in Pont-Sonde is the fault of the state,” he said in an audio message posted on social media.
While the motive for the attack is unclear, attacks of that kind have taken place in the capital, 80 percent of which is controlled by gangs, and they are typically linked to turf wars.
But Pont-Sonde is considered part of Gran Grif’s territory. The area is a major rice producer located in Haiti’s Artibonite region.
Artibonite has experienced some of Haiti’s worst violence outside Port-au-Prince, worsening hunger in a country where half the population suffers from severe food shortages.
Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said that so far this year, more than 3,661 people have been killed in “senseless” gang violence in the country.
