PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A violent gang raid on the town of Bassin Bleu, northwest of Port-au-Prince, left residents reeling Thursday as gunmen killed, kidnapped, and set buildings ablaze in the latest wave of unrest consuming Haiti.
Armed men opened fire in the streets around midday, killing at least one high school teacher, according to the Catholic Church and local officials. Panic spread as attackers torched the police station, town hall, and several other structures, while looting a credit union.
The assault marked the first large-scale strike on Bassin Bleu, a community that until now had largely been spared the gang violence engulfing the nation. But such attacks on rural towns are becoming more frequent as armed groups extend their control.
“Many people in Bassin Bleu managed to escape and were forced to cross a river with a powerful current just to avoid being consumed by the violence,” the office of the bishop in northwestern Haiti said in a statement. “What can we do, because now we have nowhere to run?”
Local leaders, including Rodlet Jean Baptiste speaking on Radio Caraibes, blamed the Kokorat San Ras gang, which dominates the region. The group is part of Viv Ansanm, a coalition responsible for some of the country’s worst atrocities. In May, the Trump administration labeled the coalition a foreign terrorist organization.
A recent United Nations report described Kokorat San Ras as a small but exceptionally brutal gang operating in the Artibonite region. With only about 20 members, it has carried out “acts of extreme violence,” forcing farmers from their land and threatening food production.
The bishop’s office also accused Haitian authorities of failing to protect citizens. “Why are government authorities, who are responsible for our people’s safety, letting the country reach this state?” it asked. “Haitians have become the victims of our own fellow Haitians. We are tired.”
The Haitian National Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite years of international involvement, including a U.N.-backed Multinational Security Support mission working with Haitian police, efforts to contain the violence have achieved little.
Last week, attackers hurled a Molotov cocktail at an armored police vehicle outside the capital, killing three people. Days earlier, dozens were massacred in a fishing village — an atrocity a local official said “highlights the urgent need for effective state intervention.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the rising violence, saying he was “alarmed by the levels of violence rocking Haiti.”
