In Haiti, members of an armed gang attacked Pont Sondé, northwest of Port-au-Prince, on Thursday, killing at least 70 people, according to the UN. They shot at residents and burned dozens of houses and vehicles. The gang members “are said to have set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 vehicles,” forcing residents to flee. The attack also left at least 16 seriously injured, including two gang members hit during an exchange of fire with Haitian police.
“Members of the “Gran Grif” (Big Claw) gang, armed with automatic rifles, fired on the population, killing at least 70 people, including around 10 women and three infants,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday. UN Human Rights in a statement, saying it was “horrified”. This “attack of unspeakable brutality” was carried out “from 3 a.m.” in the morning and targeted “innocent civilians,” the Haitian government said in a press release on X.
Reinforcements sent to the scene
The government also announced that it had sent reinforcements to the area, including units specializing in the fight against gangs and supported by the multinational police force, led by Kenya. “Other specialized units are preparing to be deployed from Port-au-Prince,” the press release further specifies.
“Today, once again, once too many, we are facing the most absolute cowardice,” condemned Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, castigating “a heinous crime” perpetrated “against the entire Haitian nation”.
Yet known threats
According to Bertide Horace, spokesperson for a local associative structure, Luckson Elan, the leader of the gang, had threatened to attack the residents of Pont Sondé because of a conflict around the road linking the capital Port-au -Prince in Cap-Haïtien. Luckson Elan has been targeted by American sanctions since September for its involvement in serious human rights violations.
This killing follows “following the refusal of certain Pont Sondé drivers to pay the gang money demanded at a toll post that it installed on the national road”, assured Bertide Horace during an interview on local radio Magik 9. “Bandits invaded the town and executed dozens of residents. Almost all of the victims were killed by a bullet to the head,” she said, accusing the “police officers stationed nearby” and “apparently understaffed” of having “offered no resistance to the thugs.”
