The United Nations announces the release of six children and seven women kidnapped by gangs in Kenscoff, Haiti
The United Nations announced that six children and seven women were released from captivity after being kidnapped by armed gangs in the hillside community of Kenscoff, Haiti. This release follows a mass abduction during an attack on August 23, where an estimated 150 armed gang members attacked the area overlooking the capital, Port-au-Prince.
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During the attack, gang members opened fire on residents and pursued locals into a nearby Protestant church. The UN estimates that 22 people were killed in the church's courtyard and another dozen behind the building. At least 47 people were killed in total during the incident, with more than 50 people kidnapped. In response to the government's pledge to surge forces to the Kenscoff area, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the special representative for the UN's secretary-general in Haiti, called for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining captives. He noted that the massacre was not an isolated tragedy but a demonstration of the gangs' capacity to terrorize the population and challenge state authority.
Sources
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Haitian gangs release 13 captives after mass kidnapping in Kenscoff
Al Jazeera
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Haiti receives nearly 200,000 forced deportees, UN says after brutal gang killing
Reuters