At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped after armed men attacked Kenscoff, a once-peaceful community near Haiti’s capital, earlier this week, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) reported on Tuesday, August 26, 2026.

The attack, which occurred on Sunday, pierced the belief that security in Haiti was improving. Among the dead were at least five children. The violence included gang members setting fire to 25 homes, according to local accounts.

A gang leader, identifying himself as Izo 2—a reference to Johnson André, one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders—posted a video on social media showing some of the hostages. In the video, he threatened Vladimir Paraison, director of Haiti’s National Police, warning him to refrain from using drones against gangs in the area. “Paraison, if any of our soldiers are hurt, I will kill all of them,” he said, referring to the hostages.

Seventeen-year-old Kenscoff resident Kenson Paul said gangs kidnapped his father, mother, and six other family members during the attack. Local sources also reported that gangs were still roaming the outskirts of Kenscoff, with incidents of people being locked inside homes that were then set on fire.

The gang coalition Viv Ansanm, designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, was implicated in the violence.

Authorities are scrambling to respond to the crisis as the community remains under threat.

Sources