The Kenya police in Haiti staged an operation in a slum in Port-au-Prince on Monday and recovered a high-caliber weapon.
Officials said there were fatalities on the side of criminal gangs that had planned an attack on Kenscoff area.
The Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.
MSS Force Commander Godfrey Otunge said distress calls from residents of Kenscoff reporting imminent gang attacks prompted a swift response from the team.
“Several gang members were arrested while others were fatally injured. A high-caliber firearm along with a communication radio were recovered during the operation,” he said.
Otunge said the mission was entering a critical and decisive phase, requiring contributions and support from all stakeholders.
He also issued a stern warning to key gang leaders, stating that their days were numbered.
The MSS and the Haitian National Police (PNH) have conducted multiple joint security operations to dismantle gangs.
Operations in areas like Thomassin have led to the arrest of several gang members, with some sustaining fatal injuries during confrontations.
The MSS Mission, headquartered in Port-au-Prince, is an international operation led by Kenya and authorized by the United Nations Security Council to assist the Haiti National Police in restoring peace, law and order amid threats of criminal gangs and violence.
There are now 600 Kenya police officers in Haiti.
There are currently also police and military officers from Jamaica, along with soldiers from The Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Their presence boosts the total number of foreign security personnel to just under 800.
Last year, Haiti saw a record number of neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas fall to armed gangs, despite the presence of foreign forces and a new U.S.-backed transition government.
As the gangs took over neighborhoods and carried out some of the worst massacres in recent memory, they also deepened the country’s humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands more Haitians were forced to flee their homes.
The United Nations said more than 5,600 people were killed by gang violence last year, an increase over the previous two years, and over 1 million Haitians are now displaced.
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