A wave of brutal violence that left 47 residents dead and over 50 people abducted in a previously tranquil agricultural settlement on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince has ended with the partial release of captives, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has officially confirmed. Thirteen hostages, comprising six children and seven adult women, were freed from gang captivity late Friday in the nearby mountain town of Kenscoff, according to the agency. Among the released children are three toddlers under the age of 2, one 7-year-old minor, and two adolescent girls. Yannig Dussart, UNICEF’s deputy representative in Haiti, called the long-awaited release a “rare moment of hope” for a nation grappling with spiraling gang violence and humanitarian collapse. However, he emphasized that the mass abduction itself serves as a stark, urgent reminder of how widespread and frequent attacks on vulnerable children have become across the entire country. Once a quiet getaway for Port-au-Prince residents and a stable hub for small-scale farming, the targeted community has become the latest site of gang expansion, as armed groups extend their control beyond the capital’s crowded slums into outlying rural areas. Kidnapping for ransom has emerged as one of the Haiti gang’s most profitable criminal activities, with ordinary civilians, including children, increasingly targeted even in areas once considered safe from organized violence.
Haitian gang releases 13 hostages ,including 6 children, following deadly attack and mass kidnapping
