At least 8 children dead in drone attack in gang-controlled slum in Haiti

At least eight children dead were killed by explosive drones on Saturday night in a gang-controlled slum in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

Speaking to news agency Associated Press on Monday, relatives and activists said six other were seriously wounded in the attack which they blame on the police.

The explosions took place in Cité Soleil, which is controlled by Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

It is believed that the drone attack was targeting suspected gang leader, Albert Steevenson, known as Djouma, who was preparing to celebrate his birthday.

Haiti’s National Human Rights Defence Network said that Steevenson was distributing gifts to children when the attack occurred.

A resident in the area, Michelin Florville, said the explosion killed two of his grandchildren, aged three and seven as they sat outside with their mother.

"They were filling the time before going to sleep. Iwas behind the house. I heard an explosion. I took a little time to come and see and when I arrived, I saw the bodies on the ground," he said.

One of Viv Ansanm’s leaders, Jimmy Chérizier, best known as Barbecue, has vowed to avenge the deaths.

Romain Le Cour, head of Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said the attack raises “urgent questions of accountability”.

He asked who would take responsibility of the attack, adding that it would only reinforce the gang coalition’s anti-government narrative.

The National Human Rights Defence Network said three civilians and four suspected gang members were also killed in the attack, with seven other gunmen injured.

A new task force created earlier this year is operating outside the oversight of Haiti’s National Police and uses explosive drones.

Haiti is in the grips of record levels of insecurity with armed gangs controlling much of the capital.

The attack comes as security firm, Vectus Global, owned by former US Navy Seal Erik Prince, is due to deploy nearly 200 people to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence.

The private contractors are expected to reinforce an underfunded and understaffed police department working with Kenyan police leading a United Nations-backed mission struggling to fight gangs.