Witnesses said a couple and one other person who regularly attends services at the First Baptist Church in the center of Port-au-Prince were snatched by gang members on Sunday morning local time. Their kidnapping came just five days after a priest was seized on his way to his missionary community, located 27km (17 miles) north of the capital.

Father Antoine Macaire Christian Noah detailed the two men kidnapped are Sunday school teachers and expressed his profound shock.

There were more than 1,200 reported kidnappings in Haiti in 2022, double that of those reported the previous year.

Human rights organizations have reported at least two collective kidnapping cases in which some 80 people have been held against their will.

Last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described Haiti´s situation as a “living nightmare” and called for pressing international security force deployment nationwide.

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