UN ‘Horrified’ After At Least 70 Killed in Gang Massacre

At least 70 people, including infants, were brutally killed, and over 3,000 were forced to flee after armed members of the Gran Grif gang attacked the town of Pont-Sonde in Haiti’s Artibonite region, according to a U.N. report.

The gang, notorious for its violent tactics, swept through the area with automatic rifles, leaving devastation in its wake. Homes were burned, vehicles destroyed, and a community torn apart.

The U.N. voiced its horror at the massacre, with spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan calling the attack “an odious crime against defenseless civilians.” Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille echoed these sentiments, describing the incident as an attack on the entire Haitian nation and vowed that security forces would increase their presence in the region.

Pont-Sonde, a critical rice-producing area in the nation’s breadbasket, has seen rising violence, exacerbating an already dire hunger crisis. Armed gangs, now in control of most of Port-au-Prince and expanding to rural regions, continue to displace thousands while blocking humanitarian aid and food supplies.

Gang leader Luckson Elan, sanctioned by the U.N., blamed both the state and the residents of Pont-Sonde for the violence, while his gang has been accused of mass killings, rapes, and child recruitment. The Haitian judicial system, paralyzed for years, has been unable to bring those responsible to justice.

Despite international pledges, only a fraction of the resources and troops promised to assist Haiti have arrived. The U.N. has called for urgent international intervention to stop the escalating violence, as the number of displaced people surpasses 700,000 and food insecurity worsens across the country.

As the international community debates its response, neighboring Dominican Republic has announced increased deportations of Haitian migrants, further complicating the region’s humanitarian crisis.