Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Greater than 12 individuals had been slain and quite a few properties set on fireplace in a group close to Haiti's capital as gangs combat to manage extra territory, a mayor instructed The Related Press on Thursday. The incident occurred within the small city of Cabaret, northwest of Port-au-Prince, at almost midnight Tuesday, Mayor Joseph Jeanson Guillaume mentioned.
The group not too long ago appointed native residents to function guards given a spike in violence throughout Haiti, however they had been overpowered by gangs with machine weapons, he mentioned.
"There was nothing they had been capable of do to defend themselves," Guillaume mentioned. "This can be a horrible incident."
Photos and movies shared on social media present the our bodies of mutilated victims strewn exterior their properties and fires burning by way of the evening, consuming greater than 20 homes.
Guillaume referred to as on Haiti's Nationwide Police to deliver these accountable to justice and to strengthen the presence and assets of officers in Cabaret, which he mentioned had turn out to be "a lawless zone."
He additionally urged city residents to indicate solidarity and soak up these fleeing their properties to keep away from being killed by "cruel gangs" and "be with them throughout these tough instances."
The killings are the newest blamed on gangs who've grown extra highly effective because the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.