People walk past a burnt vehicle on Monday after the deadly violence in Kenscoff. Photograph: Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenPeople walk past a burnt vehicle on Monday after the deadly violence in Kenscoff.
Associated Press in Port-au-PrinceTue 25 Aug 2026 13. 35 EDTLast modified on Tue 25 Aug 2026 13. 57 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleAt least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped when armed men attacked a once peaceful community near Haiti’s capital at the weekend, the UN has said.
A gang leader has threatened to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community of Kenscoff, nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince.
Sunday’s attack pierced the belief that security in the Caribbean country was improving. Romain Le Cour, the head of Haiti observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said: “This is a major political and security test – for the government, for the police and for the international mission alike.”In a video posted on social media, the gang leader warned the director of Haiti’s national police, Vladimir Paraison, not to use drones to repel gangs in the area.
Le Cour said Izo 2 was also known as Didi and led the armed group in Kenscoff on behalf of and in coordination with Izo and other gang leaders. “He’s running a kind of franchise cell for other gangs,” he said.
Le Cour said the aim of the attack could be to force Haiti’s police and the UN-backed gang suppression force to disperse even more of their limited resources. “They don’t have enough personnel,” he said.
Le Cour said: “This is a message to the government and the police that their claims of protection do not match reality. The gangs are saying: when we choose to attack, we can, and we will succeed.”View image in fullscreenWomen mourn at the site of the attack in Kenscoff.
Photograph: Patrice Noel/ReutersThe first major attack on Kenscoff occurred in January 2025 and since then there have been sporadic attacks in the mountains surrounding the city centre.
Sunday’s attack was the largest yet. At least five of the 47 people killed were children, according to the UN integrated office in Haiti, known as BINUH. Guns, gangs and drought: how crime and the climate crisis are reshaping HaitiRead moreKenscoff’s mayor, Jean Massillon, said two government employees were among those killed, including his cousin who served as his security detail.
He said members of Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the US has designated as a foreign terrorist organisation, also set fire to 25 homes. Massillon said gangs were still roaming Kenscoff’s periphery.
The police rejected the accusations. Le Cour said that if police and armoured vehicles were indeed stationed in Kenscoff before the attack, it was concerning. “You let the gangs come in even if you had everything in place?” he said.
Armed men control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land in Haiti’s central region and beyond, and gang violence has displaced a record 1. 5 million people across Haiti.
More than 3,050 people were reported killed from January to June and another 1,400 injured, according to UN statistics released on Tuesday. Explore more on these topicsHaiti.
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Informação baseada em material público de The Guardian World, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
