Passengers ride in a shared taxi as it makes its way through Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 25, 2026
AT LEAST 70 were killed and about 30 injured during an attack near Petite Riviere in Haiti’s Artibonite region on Monday, says a rights group.
According to local residents and officials, armed gunmen stormed the area shooting and burning down about 50 homes.
The Defenseurs Plus rights group said that it estimated that about 6,000 people had been displaced by the violence.
In a joint statement with the Collective to Save the Artibonite, Defenseurs Plus said: “The lack of a security response and the abandonment of the Artibonite to armed groups demonstrate a complete abdication of responsibility by the authorities.”
But Haiti’s National Police said that it had attempted to deploy three armoured vehicles, which were slowed by holes that gang members had dug in the road.
Local officials said the gunmen had already fled the area by the time the police arrived.
About 20,000 people have been killed in Haiti since 2021, according to a recent UN report as clashes continue across the island.
More than 1.4 million people, about 12 per cent of the population, have been displaced by the violence, worsening an economic crisis and access to food.
The Artibonite region, a key agricultural area, has seen some of Haiti’s worst violence.
