At least two women, one of whom was eight months pregnant, were killed, and 5,000 people were displaced as gangs launched attacks on neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital, the Civil Protection Agency has said.
Haiti has long suffered from gang violence, but the fighting has intensified in recent months, further exacerbating the country’s humanitarian, security and political crises.
According to a partial report provided to News agency, the two women were killed in attacks carried out by several gangs grouped within the “Viv Ansanm” (“Living Together”) coalition in the southern Solino district.
“They were killed inside their homes,” said the Civil Protection report, which also described burnt houses and vehicles.
Gangs have been targeting several districts in Port-au-Prince since earlier this month, and attacks continued in Solino on Monday afternoon.
Thick columns of smoke from houses set on fire by gangs were visible from the neighbourhood.
Gangs also attacked a school in the commune of L’Estere, where they killed a parent and wounded several schoolchildren.
Earlier in October, a gang attack on the town of Pont-Sonde left at least 109 people dead and over 40 injured.
The violence comes despite the presence of a UN-backed multi-national mission led by Kenya to support the overwhelmed Haitian police, which began deploying during the summer.
It is far from having reached its initial target of 2,500 police officers.
Meanwhile, powerful gangs control 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince and the country’s main roads.
At least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti since January, according to a figure quoted at the end of September by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), violence and the humanitarian situation have forced more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes.
