Haiti gangs kill 47 and kidnap dozens in Kenscoff attack

More than 100 mourners gathered in a Kenscoff church to hold funerals for victims of a recent gang massacre. On August 23, approximately 150 heavily armed gang members attacked the farming community, killing 47 people and kidnapping more than 50 others in one of the country’s largest recent mass abductions.

Marta Hurtado of the U.N. Human Rights Office reported that gang members pursued 50 people into the church, executing 22 in the courtyard and 12 behind the building. Following interventions by community leaders and UNICEF, a gang leader agreed to release six children and seven women who had been taken.

The Haiti National Police is investigating the incident to determine if the attack was facilitated by police complicity or negligence. Local officials have placed Kenscoff under red alert as the community deals with significant trauma. The violence occurs as gangs control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and various other regions while the country prepares for its first general elections in over a decade.