Dozens of people have been killed and thousands forced to flee their homes after armed gangs ravaged Haiti’s major agricultural region soon before the expected arrival of an international force aimed at combating attacks like these.
Gang members stormed the Jean-Denis and Pont-Sondé areas of Haiti’s western Artibonite department on Sunday into Monday, according to rights groups, shooting civilians and burning homes.
Haitian law enforcement have confirmed that at least 16 people were killed on Sunday, with rights groups Defenders Plus and RNDDH estimating that the death toll rose as high as 70 by Monday as the attack continued overnight.
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Dozens of houses were burned down and nearly 6,000 people were forced to flee, according to Defenders Plus.
Gang members split into groups, launching attacks across multiple localities, barricading roads and digging trenches across routes that serve as entry and exit points, Bertide Horace, a spokesperson from the Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission to Save the Artibonite Valley, told CNN.
“When they arrived in these localities, they began shooting in all directions. They killed several people and caused extensive damage,” Horace said, adding that her team recovered 30 bodies across multiple locations.
Horace told CNN there was no police presence initially, and that the gangs were “filming and operating with complete confidence” as people were left to fend for themselves. By noon on Monday, police arrived and gangs began to retreat, she said.
Reginald Fils-Aimé, a doctor based in central Haiti, said his team received at least 15 injured people at Hospital Saint Nicolas in the town of Saint Marc in the country’s west, the youngest of whom was just 13 years old. Seven of those patients underwent major surgery.
The influx of patients is the largest Fils-Aimé has seen from gang-related activity in weeks, and he fears more patients could be on the way.
Culled from The CNN
