Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP)-Gangs trying to take full control of Haiti The capital killed at least four soldiers and four armed civilians who worked with the police to protect their communities, an official said on Thursday.
Lionel Lazarre, spokesperson for the National Police in Haiti, told Radio Caraïbes that two soldiers and four civilians had been killed in Kenscoff, a formerly peaceful community on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Two other soldiers and an indefinite number of civilians were killed in the Pacot community inside the capital, he said.
On Wednesday evening, the government said that at least four armed police officers and civilians in the Canapé-Vert community, one of the rare districts uncontrolled by gangs, were killed in the attacks.
In videos published on social networks, armed men are seen to mutilate several bodies and pick up cut heads like trophies, saying: “We had dogs.”
Haiti's presidential transition council and the Prime Minister’s office sentenced the attacks in separate statements and said several people had been injured.
“The government reaffirms that the fight against insecurity remains its absolute priority,” said the office.
Gangs which control at least 85% Port-au-Prince have launched recent attacks on previously peaceful areas that the police and armed residents are trying to protect.
More than 260 people were killed Attacks against Kenscoff and Carrefour Earlier this year, according to the United Nations political mission in Haiti.
Haitian police work alongside a mission supported by the UN led by Kenyan police to push the gangs, although They had trouble in their efforts. The mission is underfunded and has only some 1,000 people out of the 2,500 envisaged.
On Monday, the senior United Nations officials in Haiti told the United Nations Security Council that the escalation of gang violence should lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return”. María Isabel Salvador warned that “Haiti could face the total chaos” without increased funding and support for multinational force.
Last year, more than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti, the violence of gangs leaving more than a million homeless people. I In February and March only, 1,086 people were killed and 383 injured, according to the UN
