More than 6,000 people in Haiti have fled their homes after a gang attack that left dozens dead

A man displaced by armed gang attacks rests at the Antoinette Dessalines National makeshift shelter in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, October 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

SAINT-MARCC, Haiti (AP) — About 6,300 people have fled their homes after an attack in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members it killed at least 70 people, according to the UN migration agency.

Nearly 90% of displaced people are staying with relatives in host families, and 12% have found refuge in other places, including schools, the International Organization for Migration said in a report last week.

The attack in Pont Sonde happened early on Thursday morning and many left in the middle of the night.

Gang members “came to shoot and break into houses to steal and burn. I just managed to grab my kids and run in the dark,” said Sonis Mirano, 60, who was camped with hundreds of people in a park in the nearby coastal town of Saint-Marc on Sunday.

Bodies were scattered along the streets of Pont-Sonde after the attack in the Artibonite region, many of them shot in the head, Bertide Harache, spokeswoman for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save Artibonite, told Magik 9. radio station on Friday.

Initial estimates put the number of killed at 20 peoplebut activists and government officials discovered more bodies when they reached areas of the city. The victims included a young mother, her newborn baby and a midwife, Gerace said.

Prime Minister Harry Conil promised in comments in Saint-Marc on Friday that the perpetrators would be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

“They need to be arrested, prosecuted and jailed. They must pay for what they did and the victims must receive redress,” he said.

Charlit Charles, wounded by a bullet during an attack by armed gangs, sits on a bed at St. Nicholas Hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, October 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

In a statement, the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “horrified by Thursday’s gangland attacks.”

European Union also condemned the violence in a statement Friday, which he said marked “another escalation of the extreme violence that these criminal gangs inflict on the Haitian people.”

Following the attack, the Haitian government dispatched an elite police unit based in the capital Port-au-Prince to Pont-Sonde and sent medical supplies to help the area’s lonely and overwhelmed hospital.

Police will remain in the area as long as necessary to ensure security, Conil said, adding that he doesn’t know whether that will take a day or a month. He also addressed the public, saying that “the police cannot deal with this alone.”

Gang violence in Artibonite, where most of Haiti’s food is produced, has increased in recent years. Thursday’s attack became one of the largest mass killings since.

Similar took place in the capital Port-au-Prince80% of which are controlled by gangs, and they usually involve turf wars where gang members attack civilians in areas controlled by rivals. Many areas are unsafe and people affected by the violence have been unable to return home, even if their homes were not destroyed.

People displaced by armed attacks receive food from a non-governmental organization in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, October 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

More than 700,000 people, more than half of them children, are currently internally displaced throughout Haiti, the International Organization for Migration said in an Oct. 2 statement. This is 22% more than in June.

Port-au-Prince is home to a quarter of the country’s displaced people, often living in overcrowded conditions and with little or no access to basic services, according to the agency.

Those forced to flee their homes are largely being accommodated by families who report significant hardship. including food shortagesAccording to the agency, medical facilities are overloaded and there is a shortage of essential goods in local markets.

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