PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) 鈥� A powerful gang coalition attacked a once peaceful farming community nestled in the hills above capital, killing multiple people, an official told The Associated Press on Monday.
Kenscoff Mayor Jean Massillon said armed men raided the community late Sunday, setting fire to homes and killing residents.
鈥淚t is still impossible to establish a definitive death toll due to access difficulties and communication problems,鈥� he said.
Wails filled the air in Kenscoff as survivors found the bodies of friends and family strewn on the streets early Monday. Massillon blamed the attack on members of Viv Ansanm, which the U.S. government last year.
鈥淭hey sowed chaos,鈥� Massillon said.
He said gang members targeted a church and homes including those owned by Dr. Jean 鈥淏ill鈥� Pape. He is a renowned doctor who runs a non-governmental organization in Haiti that helps patients including those with HIV and tuberculosis.
No further details about the attack were available. A spokesperson for the U.N.-backed gang suppression force did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Gangs control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, with Viv Ansanm .
Gang violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,100 people were reported killed from January to June and another 1,189 injured, according to U.N. statistics.
The attack comes less than a week after the U.S. government to the troubled Caribbean country for the first time since the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians.
Haiti is scheduled to hold general elections for the first time in more than a decade on Dec. 13, and in Port-au-Prince and beyond. Experts have warned it’s currently too dangerous to hold elections.
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Associated Press reporter D谩nica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.
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