Haitian gang attacks Bassin Bleu town, kills teacher, burns buildings

A Haitian gang attacked the rural town of Bassin Bleu, about 40 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, around noon Thursday, opening fire on streets and killing at least one high school teacher, according to Rodlet Jean Baptiste, a local community leader who spoke on Radio Caraibes.

Residents described chaos as gunmen abducted residents and burned several buildings, including the police station, and looted a credit union. The attack appeared to be led by Kokorat San Ras, a gang with a firm grip on the region. Haitian National Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment or provide details on casualties or arrests.

The violence in Bassin Bleu comes as gangs expand their reach into rural areas, posing a challenge for the Haitian state. In a United Nations briefing, Kokorat San Ras was described as small but brutal, with roughly 20 members active in the Artibonite region. The group has been characterized as committing acts of extreme violence and has forced people to abandon large swaths of cropland, threatening agricultural production in the area.

This incident marks the first attack of this scale in Bassin Bleu, a community that has until now largely avoided the type of gang violence that has roiled much of Haiti in recent years. In the weeks leading up to the assault, violence continued to escalate elsewhere: gunmen tossed a Molotov cocktail into an armored police vehicle outside Port-au-Prince, killing three people, and days earlier, dozens were massacred in a small fishing village, prompting calls for more effective state intervention. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the wave of attacks as alarming, while noting that years of international efforts, including missions to bolster policing, have not succeeded in stopping the violence.