At Least 47 Killed and Dozens Taken Hostage in Attack Near Port-au-Prince

At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 kidnapped when armed men attacked a once peaceful community near Haiti's capital at the weekend, according to the United Nations. At least five of those killed were children, said the UN integrated office in Haiti, known as BINUH.

A gang leader has since threatened to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members while trying to secure the community of Kenscoff, in the hills above Port-au-Prince.

The threat

In a video posted on social media, the gang leader warned Haiti's national police director, Vladimir Paraison, not to use drones against gangs in the area. "Paraison, if any of our soldiers are hurt, I will kill all of them," he said, referring to the hostages.

He identified himself as Izo 2, a reference to Izo, or Johnson André, one of Haiti's most powerful gang figures. Romain Le Cour, head of the Haiti observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said Izo 2 — also known as Didi — led the armed group in Kenscoff on behalf of and in coordination with Izo and other leaders. "He's running a kind of franchise cell for other gangs," he said.

People walk past a burnt vehicle in Kenscoff after the attack, in which homes were also set alight. Photograph: Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty Images

Why this location matters

Sunday's attack punctured a growing belief that security in Haiti was improving.

"This is a major political and security test — for the government, for the police and for the international mission alike," Le Cour said.

Kenscoff was first attacked in January 2025, with sporadic assaults on the surrounding mountains since. Sunday's was by far the largest. Kenscoff's mayor, Jean Massillon, said two government employees were among the dead, including his cousin, who served on his security detail. He said members of Viv Ansanm, the powerful gang coalition designated by the United States, were involved.

The strategy behind it

Le Cour argued the attack may be designed to stretch already thin resources. "They don't have enough personnel," he said of the police and the UN-backed gang suppression force. "If you force them to deploy more troops, it would inevitably be at the expense of other areas."

That is a calculated use of an opponent's weakness rather than an act of indiscriminate violence. A force too small to hold every district can be induced to abandon one by being made to defend another.

The electoral context

The timing is not incidental. Haiti is preparing to hold general elections on 13 December, its first in more than a decade.

"This is a message to the government and the police that their claims of protection do not match reality," Le Cour said. "The gangs are saying: when we choose to attack, we can, and we will succeed."

That is the specific problem an election creates. A vote requires the state to guarantee safety at thousands of fixed, publicised locations on a known date — the most demanding security task a government can undertake, and one the gangs have just demonstrated it cannot reliably perform in a community it believed was secure.