At least 70 people were killed in "brutal and coordinated" attacks on a town in central Haiti over the weekend, a UN official reported Tuesday, offering the most reliable death toll to date.
"This indiscriminate violence is yet another reminder of the urgent need to increase support for Haiti in the face of the scourge of gangs and the networks that back them," wrote Carlos Ruiz Massieu, head of the UN office in Haiti, on social media.
Initial toll
Haitian police had reported an initial death toll of at least 16 on Monday, but several sources anticipated a much higher number, especially after another attack that occurred at dawn on Sunday.
According to Bertide Horace, spokesperson for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and Awareness to Save Artibonite (a department in Haiti), the attack in this town northwest of Port-au-Prince was carried out by the "Grand Grif" gang.
A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, published last week, indicates that gang violence and attacks targeting gangs resulted in more than 5,500 deaths between March 2025 and mid-January 2026.
