At least 70 killed in gang attack on Haitian town, UN says

The death toll from a grisly attack Thursday on a small Haitian town by the heavily armed Gran Grif gang has risen to at least 70, the UN human rights office said Friday, adding that women and children were among those killed.

The tally of victims killed in this week's brutal attack on a small town in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members has risen to at least 70, the U.N. human rights office said Friday.

Bodies lay strewn on the streets of Pont-Sondé following Thursday’s attack in the Artibonite region, many of them killed by a shot to the head, Bertide Harace, spokeswoman for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite, told Magik 9 radio station.

Initial estimates put the number of those killed to 20 people, but activists and government officials have been gradually accessing areas of the town and discovering more bodies. Among the victims is a young mother, her newborn baby and a midwife, Herace said.

“We are horrified by Thursday’s gang attacks,” the U.N. Human Rights Office of the Commissioner said in a statement.

It said 10 women and three infants were among those killed, and at least 16 others seriously injured, including two gang members hit during an exchange with police.


Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
Dominican Republic to deport 10,000 undocumented Haitians a week
Top Haiti officials guilty of corruption, anti-graft agency says
UN extends Kenya-led security mission in Haiti amid rising hunger, violence