Violent Haitian gang releases women and children after mass kidnapping and deadly attack

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Six children and seven women were released by a gang in Haiti that had kidnapped more than 50 people after launching a deadly attack on a community near the capital, Port-au-Prince, nearly a week ago, according to UNICEF.

The United Nations children’s agency said late Friday that among those released are three children under the age of 2, a 7-year-old and two teenage girls.

“This release offers a rare moment of hope amid the violence threatening children in Haiti,” said Yannig Dussart, UNICEF’s deputy representative in Haiti,. “The Kenscoff abduction was not an isolated incident but another stark reminder of the scale and frequency of attacks on children across the country.”

UNICEF said it worked with community leaders to help secure the release of the women and children. It wasn’t immediately clear if they needed medical treatment, and whether there are more women and children being held.

While individual kidnappings in Haiti are commonplace, mass abductions are more unusual. The outcomes vary: Some people are released without a ransom, while others are killed despite multiple ransoms being paid.

Gangs killed at least 47 people during the attack late Sunday on Kenscoff, a once-peaceful farming community nestled in the hills above Haiti’s capital.

A gang leader known as Izo 2 had threatened to execute all the hostages if police killed any gang members in their push to secure Kenscoff. Izo 2 leads an armed group in that area on behalf of and in coordination with other gang leaders including Izo, considered one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders.

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