At least two women, including one who was eight months pregnant, were killed and 5,000 people displaced as Haitian gangs attacked neighbourhoods in the impoverished Caribbean nation’s capital, its Civil Protection agency said Monday.

Haiti has long suffered from gang violence, but the fighting has intensified in recent months, further exacerbating the country’s humanitarian, security and political crises.

People flee their neighborhood after armed gangs terrorized the Delmas 24 and Solino areas, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 20, 2024. – On October 18, 2024, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to expand an arms embargo on Haiti, as the impoverished Caribbean nation struggles to wrest back control from powerful gangs. All 15 members voted for the resolution, which calls for UN member states to block shipments of “arms and related materiel of all types” from entering Haiti. (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP)

According to a partial report provided to AFP, the two women were killed in attacks carried out by several gangs grouped within the “Viv Ansanm” (“Living Together”) coalition in the southern Solino district.

“They were killed inside their homes,” said the Civil Protection report, which also described burnt houses and vehicles.

Gangs have been targeting several districts in Port-au-Prince since earlier this month, and attacks continued in Solino on Monday afternoon.

Thick columns of smoke from houses set on fire by gangs were visible from the neighbourhood.

Gangs also attacked a school in the commune of L’Estere, where they killed a parent and wounded several schoolchildren.

In early October, a gang attack on the town of Pont-Sonde left at least 109 people dead and over 40 injured.

The violence comes despite the presence of a UN-backed multi-national mission led by Kenya to support the overwhelmed Haitian police, which began deploying during the summer.

It is far from having reached its initial target of 2,500 police officers.

Meanwhile, powerful gangs control 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince and the country’s main roads.

At least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti since January, according to a figure quoted at the end of September by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force arrive at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on October 18, 2024. – Later today, the United Nations is scheduled to vote on a draft resolution that would extend sanctions and aim to address ongoing security concerns in Haiti. More than 3,600 people have been killed this year in “senseless” gang violence in Haiti, according to the UN human rights office. (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP)

Violence and the humanitarian situation have forced more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

AFP