Gunfight Between Gangs In Haiti, 50 Dead And More Than 100 Injured

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - Gunfights between rival gangs have killed more than 50 people since Friday near Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, a local mayor said on Monday, amid an escalation in violence that continues to grip the Caribbean nation.

Gunfights between gangs in the impoverished suburb of Cite Soleil have also left more than 100 people injured, according to Cite Soleil Mayor Joel Janeus, adding that 50 of them are in critical condition.

"People were crouching during the shooting, the bullets went through their roofs and killed them," Janeus said in a telephone interview.

"People who are trying to escape (the area), they are hit by bullets," he continued.

The gang also blocked access to the Varreux fuel terminal, Haitian newspaper Le Nouveliste reported.

The West Indies Group, the Haitian conglomerate that owns the Varreux terminal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Henry's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The violence appears to be the result of a confrontation between the G9 gang and the GPEP.

Gang violence has escalated since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated a year ago in a night raid, creating a political vacuum and leading criminal groups to expand their control over the country's territory.

Rights activists said in May that clashes between rival Chen Mechan and the 400 Mawozo gangs had killed 148 people, some of whom were hacked to death with machetes or killed when their homes were burned.

Haiti on Thursday marked the anniversary of Moise's murder, but the country's judicial authorities have not charged anyone in the murder. Kidnappings have increased since then and much of the country is now gang-governed.