UN peacekeeping mission raid slum district in Haiti to end gang violence

United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti have raided two areas of a slum district in an operation designed to rout gangs that have been active in Port-au-Prince, the Caribbean country’s capital, and have killed or wounded several gang members, a mission spokesman said.

During the operation yesterday in Cité Soleil’s Bois-Neuf and Douillard areas, “the criminals, who tried desperately to fight back using weapons, were either killed or wounded,” suffering heavy losses, the spokesman for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Lieutenant Colonel El Ouafi Boulbars, said yesterday.

Some 400 MINUSTAH forces in 41 troop transport vehicles took part in the engagement, he said, and he re-affirmed the mission’s determination to make Port-au-Prince secure and stable.