Thousands flee gang killings in Haiti breadbasket town, media reports
A woman reacts at a crime scene where the bodies of several people killed in gang violence were being removed in Haiti on March 18, 2024.
At least 11 people were killed and dozens injured in an overnight attack in a Haitian town led by the Gran Grif gang, local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported on Thursday, as powerful armed gangs expand their influence from the capital.
Thousands of residents left the town of Pont-Sonde, some 100 km (62 miles) north of the capital, to seek refuge in the coastal town of Saint-Marc, Le Nouvelliste said. Other media reported the death toll may be in the dozens.
Haiti's national police told Reuters that several people had been killed and severely wounded in the attack, without giving any numbers. They later said agents from their UTAG anti-gang tactical unit had been dispatched to the area.
"The police have been formally instructed to restore order and prevent all those sowing terror in the Artibonite department from causing harm," Haiti's Justice Ministry said in a statement. "These crimes will not go unpunished."
Men belonging to the gang led by 36-year-old Luckson Elan, who was sanctioned by the United Nations last month, burned buildings and executed people in the streets, LeNouvelliste said.
A major rice producing town, Pont-Sonde is located in Haiti's breadbasket Artibonite department and built around a bridge at the crossroads of a road linking the capital with the northern region.
Artibonite has seen some of the worst violence outside the capital, compounding a worsening hunger crisis that has seen half the population suffer from severe food insecurity and thousands in capital Port-au-Prince face famine-level hunger.
The capital's main port has also shut due to gang attacks.
The number of people internally displaced by the conflict has meanwhile surged past 700,000, nearly doubling in six months despite the partial deployment of a UN-backed mission mandated to help under-resourced police restore order.
Neighbouring Dominican Republic said on Wednesday it would step up migrant deportations to up to 10,000 per week, citing the slow and limited progress of the security mission, which Haiti's government first requested in 2022.
