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At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 kidnapped after armed men attacked a community near Haiti’s capital earlier this week, the United Nations (UN) said on Tuesday.
The assault is believed to be one of Haiti’s largest mass kidnappings in recent years.
Kenscoff resident Marc Paul, 42, said his brother, stepmother, stepfather and two cousins were among those kidnapped. His 16-year-old niece was also abducted and raped before managing to escape and reunite with him.
“I had to run over bodies,” Paul said, recalling his escape from the attack. “I can’t sleep knowing all these people died.” Paul and his family had already lost their home to a previous gang attack in January 2025.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, saying 22 of the victims were reportedly executed in a church compound where they had sought shelter.
“The relentless gang attacks on communities and the loss of lives underscore the alarming security conditions in Haiti,” he said.
Haitians demand greater police protection
The attack has raised fresh concerns over security in Haiti, shattering hopes that conditions in the Caribbean country were improving.
Some survivors accused the government of not providing enough protection prior to the attack, with Haiti’s National Police rejecting those accusations.
“This is a message to the government and the police that their claims of protection do not match reality,” said the head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Romain Le Cour.
“The gangs are saying: when we choose to attack, we can, and we will succeed.”
Le Cour added that if police and armoured vehicles were indeed stationed in Kenscoff prior to the attack, then the assertion is concerning: “You let the gangs come in even if you had everything in place?”
Haiti’s National Police said on Tuesday that an investigation had been ordered into the attack to determine whether there had been “complicity or negligence.”
Additional specialised units were also deployed to the area, with police saying they had an “obligation to protect the civilian population.”
A long-running gang violence crisis
The first major attack on Kenscoff occurred in January 2025 and since then, there have been sporadic attacks in the mountains surrounding the town centre. Sunday’s assault was the largest to date.
Armed groups control an estimated 70% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as large areas of the country’s central region and beyond.
Gang violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, while more than 3,050 people were killed between January and June, according to UN figures released on Tuesday.
Nearly 800 cases of rape were reported between April and June, 87% of which were gang rapes. At least 81 people were also kidnapped during the same period, the UN said.
The number of kidnappings reported from April to June represents a more than 40% increase compared with the previous quarter.