At least 40 people have been killed, some execution-style, after gangs attacked displaced people sheltering in a church near Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince at the weekend, local authorities said.
Issued on: 25/08/2026 - 10:53
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Many others were injured and some remain missing after the attack, which comes as gangs control much of the capital. In a statement following the attack, the office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime expressed "deep compassion" for the bereaved families and other victims. The government said reinforcements would be sent to restore security in the area. The attack took place on Sunday night in Kenscoff, a mountainous town in the hills southeast of Port-au-Prince that has faced months of gang violence and incursions by armed groups seeking to expand their control. As gang violence expands, Haiti's humanitarian crisis worsens Night of terror The town endured "a night of terror," Mayor Massillon Jean said. "We have counted around 40 bodies. Searches are continuing. Some people are still missing," Jean told French news agency AFP on Monday. Among the places targeted was a site housing people who had already fled violence elsewhere. "The bandits raided a displaced persons camp located in a church," Jean said. "They executed several people. There are fatalities and dozens of wounded. Some people were abducted by the criminals." Residents were still in shock as they tried to grasp what had happened. "I don't know how I managed to get away," a man in his sixties who escaped with his family told the press. "When I heard the gunfire, I thought it was the police, but it was the bandits. We climbed over a wall, then ran to hide under some sheets of corrugated iron. There were so many dead."
