Geneva, 5 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - At least 70 people, including around ten women and three children, have been killed in a major gang attack on a small village in Haiti, the UN reported on Friday.

Initially, local media had reported numerous deaths in the incident in Pont-Sondé.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva reported that gang members had fired on the community with automatic rifles. A further 16 people were seriously injured and 45 houses and dozens of vehicles were set on fire.

This was a brutal attack on defenceless people, the Caribbean state's Prime Minister, Garry Conille, said on X.

Bandits from the Gran Grif gang had surprised the residents at 3 am (0700 GMT) on Thursday and subjected the villagers to "indescribable brutality," a separate government statement said.

The renewed act of violence against innocent civilians was unacceptable and required an urgent, rigorous and coordinated response from the state, it added.

The deployment of security forces in the region north of the capital Port-au-Prince will be stepped up, the government pledged.

Haiti is the poorest country on the American continent. The Caribbean state has been suffering for years from the violence of armed gangs, most of whom have Port-au-Prince under their control.

The violence is also spreading to other regions. Last year, the UN office in Haiti expressed concern about the brutality of the Gran Grif ("big claw") against the population in the Artibonite Valley, where the attacked community is located.

The UN Office for Human Rights called for more international support for the multinational security mission in Haiti and called for a swift and thorough investigation into the attack.

Photo: X