PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs launched a new attack on Haiti’s capital early Tuesday, killing an unknown number of civilians in what used to be a peaceful neighborhood.
The attack on Delmas 30 began before dawn, with gunfire echoing through the streets as people fled their homes in panic, some cradling babies or carrying elderly people on their back.
“The country is suffering,” said 27-year-old Moricette Cedric Christian.
He blamed the attack on the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which has claimed responsibility for other recent attacks. “(They) don’t want us to survive,” Christian said.
Local media reported that two Haitian soldiers were among the victims.
Police and army spokespeople did not immediately return messages for comment.
A man who declined to give his name recovered the body of a relative killed in the attack and placed it inside a wheelbarrow.
“Look, a lot of people are victims,” he said, adding that it’s difficult to find refuge from a gang attack. “You run to the right, you are blocked. You run to the left, you are blocked.”
In the past month, gang violence has left more than 6,000 people homeless in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, according to a U.N. statement issued Tuesday.
“Entire families were brutally wiped out in their homes, while others, including children and babies, were shot dead as they tried to escape,” the U.N. said of the other attacks that occurred before Tuesday.
Last year, more than 5,600 people were reported killed across Haiti, with gang violence leaving more than 1 million homeless in recent years, according to the U.N.
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