9 killed in Haiti in latest gang attack

Residents evacuate Poste Marchands in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on December 9, 2024, after gangs took control of the region on December 7. – Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday, December 9, condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / Agence France-Presse)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gunmen in Haiti killed nine people in the latest spasm of violence by the Caribbean nation’s powerful gangs, a community leader said Wednesday.

The gangsters attacked Tuesday evening in the town of Petite-Riviere in central Haiti, Bertide Horace, a spokeswoman for a community association in the surrounding Artibonite region, told Agence France-Presse.

Two of the fatalities were adolescents and the attackers kidnapped an undisclosed number of people and set fire to houses, Horace said, adding: “We counted nine bodies.”

Video footage of the bodies circulated on social media, as the attack angered residents of the town.

The assault was seen as revenge by gangsters against locals who had helped officers retake control of a police headquarters, she added.

READ: Nearly 200 dead in Haiti massacre, voodoo community reportedly targeted

Haiti’s powerful gangs control most of the capital city Port-au-Prince and commit random acts of kidnapping, rape and other extreme violence despite the deployment of a Kenyan-led force that is trying to help the outgunned local police restore some semblance of order.

Over the weekend, nearly 200 people were killed in Port-au-Prince as a gang leader convinced that his son’s illness stemmed from a voodoo spell attacked followers of the religion, according to an organization called the Committee for Peace and Development.

The United Nations put the death toll at 184, including 127 elderly men and women.

Around 5,000 people have died in the country’s unrest this year, according to the United Nations.

READ: Trenches, drones: Haiti gangs adapt to fight Kenya-led police

Haiti has suffered from decades of instability, but the situation escalated in February when gangs launched coordinated attacks in the capital to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.

The medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday it would partially resume its activities in Port-au-Prince, less than a month after suspending its operations over threats to its staff.

The United States meanwhile announced extended restrictions on US flights to Haiti, with the Federal Aviation Administration set to ban planes from operating under 10,000 feet around capital Port-au-Prince.

The regulator had previously banned flights to Haiti after gangs shot at planes, but had eased restrictions on November 20. The new regulation goes into effect Thursday.