Four Salvadoran air force members missing after gang ambush in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE/SAN SALVADOR: Heavily armed criminal gangs ambushed members of an international security force in Haiti, and four Salvadoran troops were missing after fleeing their burning armored vehicle near Port-au-Prince, authorities told the UN Security Council on Monday.

The UN-backed Gang Suppression Force is seeking to add soldiers as it fights gang violence, including massacres that have forced nearly 1.5 million people to flee their homes. In the ambush, gangs attacked the armored vehicle with explosives, setting it ablaze, and the four members of El Salvador’s air force leaped out, the Salvadoran military said.

At a UN Security Council meeting in New York about Haiti, US Ambassador ‌Mike Waltz ‌said the Salvadorans’ vehicle was hit by “hundreds of bullets and ‌explosives” in the ambush while returning to base from a market.

Contact with the soldiers was lost, and Salvadoran helicopters that tried to reach the area came under fire, the Salvadoran military said. Igor Rugwiza, a spokesman for the force, told Reuters the mission was still searching for the four amid heavy fighting.

“There have been multiple attempts to reach the area by land and air, but these have been hampered by the intensity of the fighting and the security conditions in the area,” El Salvador’s armed forces said in a statement.

The international force advised people ‌living near Santo village on the northeastern outskirts of ‌Port-au-Prince, where the Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo armed criminal groups hold sway, to stay indoors until further ‌notice. Speaking to reporters in New York, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, ‌condemned the attack and called for the soldiers’ immediate and safe release.

The Salvadoran team is among several international contingents that make up the security force, tasked with helping police restore security amid a bloody gang conflict that has killed more than 21,000 people in the last four years.

Jack Christofides, the ‌force’s special representative, told the UN meeting that the contingent had reached 2,000 troops, just over a third of its target. Countries contributing personnel include Chad and Guatemala.

The UN approved the force about a year ago and that triggered the withdrawal of a prior UN-backed force that had struggled to obtain troops, equipment and funding. “The force is making a difference with what it has,” Christofides said.

“We have stayed concentrated rather than dispersed.” The missions have made little dent in the gangs’ widespread control over Haiti’s capital and surrounding areas. Earlier this month, Haiti’s government said it was reviewing the schedule for its first election in a decade, which had been planned for December.

Carlos Ruiz, who heads the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, told reporters he expected elections could happen next year if security allowed. Christofides said “hostile incidents” against the security force have increased over the last month. Gangs have also ramped up ransom kidnappings, even targeting high-profile figures including the defense minister’s chief of staff.

LISBON (AFP) : Cristiano Ronaldo has been handed a 30-day suspension for leaving the Portuguese…

F.P. Report ISLAMABAD: England Head Coach Brendon McCullum said it is wonderful to be back…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) : Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil on Monday asked the US Supreme Court…

Saqib Mushtaq ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), UN Women and the World Food…

(Web Desk): Bollywood actor Salman Khan has reportedly stepped up security at his Galaxy Apartments…

(Web Desk): Bollywood actor Imran Khan has approached the Bombay High Court to challenge a…