Police patrol round Bernard Mevs hospital the place armed gangs have unfold violence in Port-au-Prince on December 17, 2024. (Photograph by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP)
Two journalists masking the reopening of a hospital within the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince have been killed Tuesday in a shootout involving gang members, an area media collective instructed Agence France-Presse.
Journalists Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean have been killed “throughout an assault by bandits from the coalition ‘Viv Ansanm’ (‘Dwelling Collectively’)” on the State College of Haiti Hospital, Robest Dimanche, spokesperson for the On-line Media Collective, instructed stated.
Different journalists have been injured within the shootout and are being handled at one other clinic, Dimanche added.
The State College of Haiti Hospital, also referred to as Basic Hospital, had been closed since February after it was attacked by members of the identical gang coalition as Tuesday’s assault.
In response to preliminary stories, assailants opened hearth on the clinic because it was being reopened. A witness instructed AFP that some folks sustained accidents, however couldn’t say what number of.
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“Journalists injured throughout an armed assault by the bandits of Viv Ansanm” on Basic Hospital, Gazette Haiti stated on X, posting images of injured folks mendacity on the hospital flooring.
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“Journalists and different press employees… contained in the constructing. It’s complete panic within the metropolis heart,” the newspaper added.
Radio Tele Gelaxie additionally reported an assault on Basic Hospital and stated that a number of journalists had been hit by gunfire.
Final week, Viv Ansanm set hearth to a different clinic within the capital Port-au-Prince, Bernard Mevs. No one was damage, however a big a part of the hospital was destroyed.
Tuesday’s taking pictures is the most recent occasion of rising turmoil within the capital of the beleaguered Caribbean nation, the place assaults by armed gangs have been escalating in a number of neighborhoods for over a month.
In early December, almost 200 folks have been killed in a bloodbath led by a “highly effective gang chief” in opposition to “voodoo practitioners,” in response to the United Nations and an area NGO.
A multinational mission in assist of Haitian police, led by Kenya and backed by the UN and the USA, has had little impression on the frequency of assaults by armed teams, who’re accused of committing quite a few murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings for ransom.
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The assaults additionally goal key buildings and infrastructure, which compelled the closure of the capital’s airport to business flights in November.
