Port-au-Prince, Haiti — Violence erupted Sunday morning in the central Haitian town of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite as a battle broke out between a powerful gang and a vigilante group, regional officials confirmed to The Associated Press.
Video shows the Gran Griff gang’s rampage leaving bloodied bodies strewn across the streets of Jean-Denis’ neighbourhood. Gangs set fire to houses and harassed civilians.
It was not immediately clear how many people the gang killed. The massacre is the latest bloodshed in a country that has been battling an escalating gang war for five years following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
around 2023, monitoring groups began to emerge To launch a counter-attack against the gangs that have been snatching lives from Haiti in the Caribbean nation. A wave of brutal vigilante justice has further complicated the conflict in Haiti, even as international forces have tried to pacify the country.
Vigilante groups often cordon off neighborhoods, stone and dismember suspected gangsters, decapitate them and set them on fire, sometimes while they are still alive.
Meanwhile, the Gran Griff gang continues sow terror in artibonite Region of Haiti, where the Petit-Rivière de l’Artibonite is located. The Gran Griff gang was one of several Haitian gangs to be designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration last year.
According to the United Nations, it is the largest gang in the region, responsible for 80% of civilian deaths there. It has massacred and raped civilians, including a minor, forced thousands to flee their homes and dismembered people, the organization said.
