At least 12 suspected ammunition dealers have died this week after their boat capsized while transporting weapons to gangs attacking a coastal town in Haiti.
The deceased persons said to be part of a gang attacking the town of Arcahaie, met their death after their boat hit the reef while supplying extra weapons to their members who ran out of ammunition during their attack.
The attack is blamed on a gang coalition called Viv Ansanm, which also has targeted communities in Port-au-Prince in recent days.
Speaking on the incident, a government official, Wilner Réné, from Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said, the attack began on Monday, with gunmen burning homes and cars in the town located just northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince.
He told Radio Caraïbesa, that the incident takes the number of dead gang members above 50, with the police killing the majority of them.
Réné added that the attack is still ongoing and called for urgent reinforcements for officers on the scene from soldiers and special police units.
The attack comes just a few months after the UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police began, to quell a surge in violence from gangs, who control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince.
So far, More than 700,000 people have been left homeless, and thousands have been killed, leading to the closure of the country’s main airport, for nearly three months earlier this year.
The US government and top Haitian officials have warned that the Kenyan-led mission lacks personnel and funding and have asked that it be replaced with a UN peacekeeping mission.