Shots were heard from many points of the city, but the urban battle was fought on the road to Canapé-Vert, Lalue and Bourdon, where the bandits were intercepted.

Lionel Lazarre, spokesman for the Haitian National Police (PNH) said on the radio program Magik9 that the hunt for bandits continues, as only 28 were killed.

Criminals traveling in the early hours of the morning in a truck and a minibus did not expect to be intercepted.

The gang coalition had promised on social media to occupy Pétion Ville, and the PNH then decided to ambush them, thwarting their offensive, at a time when a wave of public criticism is chastising them for poorly performing in battling criminal gangs.

The police reported the seizure of several firearms and a drone and now continue their manhunt in the Bourdon valley.

According to the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, the PNH has opened a new battle front, the Saint-Antoine area, where so fa they have confiscated three Kalashnikov rifles, after killing bandits traveling in a minibus.

Locals, on the other hand, have taken justice into their own hand, by apprehending gang members, whom they proceed to lynch, dismember and then set them on fire on a pile of car tires, following a folkloric method called bwa kale, as it appears in video testimonies that they have letter upload on social media.

Neighbors’ vigilante groups keep active in neutralizing criminals who try to flee, or evicting them from hideouts.

ied/jha/joe