Two killed, 5,000 flee as Haiti gangs attack in Port-au-Prince

PORT-AU-PRINCE, October 22 — At least two women, including one who was eight months pregnant, were killed and 5,000 people displaced as Haitian gangs attacked neighborhoods in the impoverished Caribbean nation's capital, its Civil Protection agency said Monday.

Haiti has long suffered from gang violence, but the fighting has intensified in recent months, further exacerbating the country's humanitarian, security and political crises.

According to a partial report provided to AFP, the two women were killed in attacks carried out by several gangs grouped within the "Viv Ansanm" ("Living Together") coalition in the southern Solino district.

"They were killed inside their homes," said the Civil Protection report, which also described burnt houses and vehicles.

Gangs have been targeting several districts in Port-au-Prince since earlier this month, and attacks continued in Solino on Monday afternoon.

Thick columns of smoke from houses set on fire by gangs were visible from the neighborhood.

Gangs also attack a school in the commune of L'Estere, where they killed a parent and wounded several schoolchildren.

In early October, a gang attack on the town of Pont-Sonde left at least 109 people dead and over 40 injured.

The violence comes despite the presence of a UN-backed multi-national mission led by Kenya to support the overwhelmed Haitian police, which began deploying during the summer.

It is far from having reached its initial target of 2,500 police officers.

Meanwhile powerful gangs control 80 percent of Port-au-Prince and the country's main roads.

At least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti since January, according to a figure quoted at the end of September by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Violence and the humanitarian situation have forced more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).