Armed gangs in Haiti have launched an assault on Kenscoff, a neighborhood home to many of the country’s elite, killing at least 40 people in an attack that has stretched into its eighth day, officials said Monday.
Mayor Jean Massillon told The Associated Press that gunmen from the Viv Ansanm gang coalition have been targeting homes and indiscriminately opening fire.
“As we speak, they have surrounded the area,” Massillon said, calling for urgent reinforcements.
Among the dead are pastors, teachers, and children, but officials fear the toll is higher as security forces struggle to access parts of the area. Kenscoff, located in the foothills of a mountain range, is home to politicians, business leaders, and working-class residents who cultivate crops on its outskirts.
The attack comes as gangs tighten their grip on Haiti, with the United Nations warning last month that armed groups could soon overrun Port-au-Prince, where they already control 85% of the capital.
The assault on Kenscoff began on Jan. 27, just days after authorities warned of imminent gang attacks in the capital but failed to specify potential targets.
Jean Bertho Valmo, a 45-year-old farmer who fled the violence, said 12 members of a single family were among those killed.
“There is not enough water and food for everyone,” Valmo said from a makeshift shelter at the mayor’s office, where dozens have taken refuge. He also lamented losing his crops of cabbage, carrots, and broccoli.
“I invested everything I had in them. The police, the government need to put a stop to this,” he said.
The International Organization for Migration reported Monday that the attack on Kenscoff has displaced more than 1,660 people, adding to the more than 1 million Haitians already left homeless by gang violence in recent years.
A police union said Friday that the attack “could have been avoided” if law enforcement had access to proper equipment, including helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, and intelligence-gathering resources.
“Despite these bad conditions, our policemen are making tireless sacrifices, but we cannot tolerate the negligence of the authorities,” the SPNH-17 police union said in a statement, demanding urgent government action.
