Reports: Mass jailbreak after gangs attack national prison in Haiti

Armed gangs have attacked Haiti's national prison in Port-au-Prince, enabling an unknown number of prisoners to escape, according to the Le Nouvelliste newspaper and other media outlets.

Following an attempt to hold the gangs at bay, the police union issued a call for urgent assistance on Saturday evening, the newspaper reported.

Gang violence in the crisis-ridden Caribbean island nation has escalated again after interim President Ariel Henry visited Kenya recently for talks on an international police operation.

After months of negotiations and a legal tug-of-war, representatives from both countries signed an agreement to this effect on Friday.

According to the deal, the Kenyan government will send 1,000 police officers to impoverished Haiti to help curb violence there.

During the prime minister's absence, criminal gangs paralyzed public life in parts of Haiti's capital at gunpoint, including shots being fired at the international airport.

According to the government, several police officers were killed.

The Miami Herald reported that several gang leaders are being held in the overcrowded prison as well as suspects in connection with the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse.

Moïse was killed with twelve shots in his residence on the night of July 7, 2021. According to the investigation, around 20 Colombian mercenaries carried out the crime on behalf of several masterminds.

The U.S. judiciary has said that the conspirators' original plan was to kidnap Moïse and replace him as head of state.

The murder's circumstances have still not entirely been clarified.

Since the assassination of the president, the security situation in Haiti has deteriorated dramatically.

According to UN estimates, violent gangs control around 80% of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and are increasingly extending their sphere of influence to other parts of the country.

The violence is exacerbating the precarious supply situation - according to the United Nations, almost half of Haiti's 11 million inhabitants are suffering from acute hunger.