Gang Attack in Haiti Leaves 70 People Dead

The gang members, armed with automatic weapons, stormed into the small town of Pont-Sondé in central Haiti at around 3 a.m. on Thursday.

Then they started setting houses on fire.

“As people rushed out of their houses, they were shot,” said Ravina Shamdasani, chief spokeswoman for the U.N. Human Rights Office.

When the violence ended, at least 70 people — including 10 women and three infants — were dead, while hundreds of others ran for their lives, the U.N. office said in a statement.

Among the victims were three newborn boys and 24 people found in a nearby ravine, Ms. Shamdasani added.

Entire families were wiped out and several people are still missing, according to an investigative report by the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, a prominent civil rights organization in Haiti. The organization faulted authorities for a poor response time and not acting on widespread rumors about the attack, which had been known in the community for weeks.

Just days after its leader was sanctioned by both the United States and the United Nations, the gang, called the Gran Grif, burned 45 houses and 34 vehicles in Pont-Sondé, which is roughly 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, the U.N. said.