A violent ambush carried out by a Haitian gang affiliated with a designated terrorist coalition has left four Salvadoran service members unaccounted for in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, triggering an urgent multinational search operation that has so far failed to locate the missing troops. The attack unfolded Sunday in the Santo district of Croix-des-Bouquets, where an armored vehicle assigned to Haiti’s Gang Suppression Force (GSF) was transporting the four Salvadoran air force technicians, part of the Operational Force Libertad II deployment, back to their base when heavily armed attackers struck.
Investigators and military officials attribute the ambush to the Chen Mechan gang, a core faction of the Viv Ansanm terrorist coalition that has waged a widespread campaign of violence against Haitian security forces and international peacekeeping contingents in recent months. During the intense exchange of gunfire that followed the initial attack, the gang members used Molotov cocktails to ignite the armored vehicle, forcing the four soldiers to evacuate the burning vehicle amid sustained enemy fire.
Military commanders immediately dispatched rescue helicopters to the ambush site to repel the attackers and evacuate the stranded troops, but the aircraft came under heavy small arms fire, with multiple gun impacts recorded on their fuselages. The intensity of enemy fire prevented both air and ground extraction teams from reaching the area where the soldiers were last seen, and no contact has been made with the four troops since the attack. Unofficial sources have circulated unconfirmed reports that the soldiers may be held hostage by the gang.
Joint search operations led by the GSF and Haitian National Police, supported by surveillance kamikaze drones, have swept the area surrounding the ambush site but turned up no trace of the missing service members. Multiple additional firefights broke out during the search mission, and multiple Chen Mechan gang members were killed in these clashes, according to official operational reports.
In an official statement released the same day as the attack, the Salvadoran Armed Forces confirmed the details of the incident, noting that the four missing personnel are air force technicians deployed as part of the international security mission in Haiti. The statement confirmed that criminal attackers used both firearms and improvised explosive devices in the ambush, and that while the armored vehicle was destroyed by fire, all four troops successfully escaped the burning vehicle before it was fully engulfed.
The Salvadoran military confirmed that its helicopter support forces successfully pushed back the initial gang assault after being deployed to the scene, though the aircraft sustained damage from incoming gunfire. International coordination efforts have been activated with other foreign contingents deployed in Haiti to support the search, but repeated attempts to access the area by both land and air have been blocked by sustained hostile fire and the volatile security environment in the district. The Salvadoran Armed Forces said its Task Force Libertad II will continue joint operations with the GSF and international partners to locate the missing soldiers, and that future updates will be released through official government channels as more information becomes available.
The United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations, Michael George Glen Waltz, released a public statement condemning the attack and addressing the Haitian gang leadership directly. “To the gang bosses terrorizing Haiti, your days of operating with impunity are numbered,” Waltz said. “You can burn vehicles, erect barricades, terrorize the local police, terrorize civilians, but the Gang Suppression Force is coming for you. The international community will not tolerate it.”
Waltz also extended a message of solidarity to the four missing Salvadoran service members, saying: “And again, to our four Salvadoran brothers in arms, you are not forgotten. The GSF is with you, the United States is with you, and we will bring you home.” The security situation in central Haiti remains extremely volatile, with ongoing clashes between gangs, Haitian security forces and international contingents delaying progress in the search operation as of the latest updates.