Gang violence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has left 30 residents dead and more than a dozen injured, a local human rights group said on Thursday.
Houses in the city’s Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood were set on fire in the attacks and two police officers also died, a provisional toll provided by the National Human Rights Defense Network showed.
The neighborhood is a strategic area for the gangs, which control about 80 percent of the city.
Photo: Reuters
One resident, Dominique Charles, told reporters that she had lost her mother, stepfather, 18-year-old son, two sisters and a brother.
“The assailants attacked our house with Molotov cocktails. I was able to escape, but the other family members were not so lucky,” she said.
In the past few days, violence in the neighborhood has caused about 5,000 residents to flee, authorities said.
While some of the displaced have found shelter in schools or a local sports center, others have been stuck in the streets.
Authorities on Thursday said they had started distributing meals and water to the survivors.
Meanwhile, aid groups backed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) are temporarily shutting down operations, including some mobile health clinics, amid the violence.
“In a matter of days, violence escalated dramatically in Port-au-Prince, particularly affecting neighborhoods where the IRC collaborates with local organizations to provide vital services,” the group said.
The IRC launched its Haiti response plan in December last year and works with local groups across the capital.
Ann Lee, cofounder of US-based crisis response group CORE, which is still operating in Haiti, said that many aid groups had left as costs rise, financial aid dwindles and staff operate under increasingly life-threatening conditions.
“We have a staff member who lost her daughter because she was having a seizure and couldn’t get to the hospital,” she said. “We have an employee whose brother was beheaded.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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