Gang members attacked displaced people huddling inside a church near Haiti’s capital, killing around 40, some of them execution-style, the mayor told AFP on Monday (August 24, 2026).
The government also announced that reinforcements would be sent to restore security in the area. Searches are continuing. Mr. “The bandits raided a displaced persons camp located in a church. They executed several people. There are fatalities and dozens of wounded. Some people were abducted by the criminals,” Mr.
“We have counted around 40 bodies. Some people are still missing,” after the attack Sunday night (August 23, 2026) in the town of Kenscoff in the hills above the capital, its mayor Massillon Jean said. Nearly 1.5 million Haitians are currently displaced in a country of about 11 million, and more than five million are facing severe food insecurity, according to UN figures. The crisis worsened in early 2024, when gangs launched a wave of violence that forced the unelected Prime Minister to resign.
Jean said that among other places the assailants targeted a site housing people who had already fled violence. Jean said. In a statement issued after the attack, the office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime expressed “deep compassion” for the bereaved families and all the victims.
Haiti has not held any kind of election since 2016. Its last president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in July 2021 and not replaced.
