PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A powerful gang coalition attacked a once peaceful farming community nestled in the hills above Haiti’s capital, killing multiple people, an official told The Associated Press on Monday.
Kenscoff Mayor Jean Massillon said armed men raided the community late Sunday, setting fire to homes and killing residents.
“It is still impossible to establish a definitive death toll due to access difficulties and communication problems,” he said.
Wails filled the air in Kenscoff as survivors found the bodies of friends and family strewn on the streets early Monday. Massillon blamed the attack on members of Viv Ansanm, which the U.S. government designated as a foreign terrorist organization last year.
“They sowed chaos,” Massillon said.
He said gang members targeted a church and homes including those owned by Dr. Jean “Bill” Pape. He is a renowned doctor who runs a non-governmental organization in Haiti that helps patients including those with HIV and tuberculosis.
No further details about the attack were available. A spokesperson for the U.N.-backed gang suppression force did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Gangs control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, with Viv Ansanm repeatedly targeting nearby Kenscoff.
Gang violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,100 people were reported killed from January to June and another 1,189 injured, according to U.N. statistics.
The attack comes less than a week after the U.S. government deported more than 160 people to the troubled Caribbean country for the first time since the Trump administration won a legal battle to end Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians.
Haiti is scheduled to hold general elections for the first time in more than a decade on Dec. 13, and it has been registering voters in Port-au-Prince and beyond. Experts have warned it’s currently too dangerous to hold elections.
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Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.
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