Nationwide Police patrol an intersection amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Picture/Odelyn Joseph)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s Nationwide Police company says that it has recovered a hijacked cargo ship laden with rice following a gunbattle with gangs that lasted greater than 5 hours.
Two law enforcement officials had been injured and an undetermined variety of gang members had been killed within the shootout that occurred Saturday off the coast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, authorities mentioned in a press release.
It was a uncommon victory for an underfunded police division that has struggled to quell gang violence following a spate of attacks that began Feb. 29.
Police mentioned within the assertion Sunday that these answerable for the hijacking had been members of two gangs, named the 5 Seconds and the Taliban gang. They mentioned gunmen seized the transport ship Magalie on Thursday because it departed the port of Varreux.
Radio Télé Métronome reported that the gangs kidnapped everybody aboard the ship and stole some 10,000 sacks of rice out of the 60,000 sacks it was carrying.
The ship was headed to the northern coastal metropolis of Cap-Haitien.
Additionally on Sunday, on-line information website Radio graphie reported that the Taliban gang used a entrance loader to demolish a police station within the Port-au-Prince suburb of Canaan the place no less than 4 law enforcement officials had been killed in a latest assault. The station was now not operational.
Gang violence continued on Monday, with police utilizing megaphones to order the evacuation of the Champ de Mars space close to the Nationwide Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince as heavy gunfire erupted close by.
The latest gunbattle between police and gangs comes greater than a month after gunmen started concentrating on key authorities infrastructure. They’ve burned down a number of police stations, opened hearth on the principle worldwide airport that continues to be closed and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing greater than 4,000 inmates.
The continued violence compelled Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce he would resign as soon as a transitional presidential council is fashioned.
Henry was in Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African nation when the assaults started and stays locked out of Haiti.
Observe AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
