Twenty dead, fifty injured in armed gang attack in Haitian city

PORT AU PRINCE – Despite a promise from Prime Minister Garry Conille to crack down on gangs, at least 20 people, including children, were reportedly killed Thursday when armed gangsters attacked a small town in the country.

Initial reports indicate that more than 50 other people were injured when Gran Grif gang members rampaged through Pont-Sondé in the central Artibonite region northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince.

Video footage shows groups of people fleeing the violence on motorcycles and on foot.

The spokeswoman for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite, Bertide Harace, said on a radio station that the Gran Grif gang set fire to houses and cars in the town of Pont-Sondé.

“Many people fled and left the area,” she told radio listeners.

Public prosecutor Venson François, based in Saint-Marc, called the attack a “massacre” in an interview with Radio. Caribbean.

Despite the presence of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission, criminal gangs, which have taken control of a large majority of the capital, continue to spread fear in the country that has been without an elected government and head of state since President Jovenel. Moise was murdered in his private home on July 7, 2021.

Authorities have not said how many people were killed in Thursday’s massacre. Local media report that there are more than fifty people and a Haitian human rights organization estimates the number at twenty or more.

Media reports describe Gran Grif as one of Haiti’s most violent gangs.

In January last year, members were accused of attacking a police station near Port-Sondé and killing six officers. The country is also accused of forcing the closure of a hospital that serves more than 700,000 people.

The gang has about 100 members and has been accused of crimes including murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.

According to a United Nations report, Prophane Victor, a former lawmaker representing the Artibonite chapter, began arming young men who eventually formed the Gran Grif gang to secure his election and control of the area.

Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on Victor. (Jamaica observer)…(+)