Haiti police kill four after Moise assassination
Haitian police have killed four “mercenaries” they said were behind the killing of President Jovenel Moise.
Police chief Leon Charles said a gun battle broke out as the impoverished Caribbean nation was plunged into uncertainty by the assassination.
Police did not identify the attackers or say what their motives were for Wednesday’s assault on the president and his wife, Martine, at their private residence in the capital, Portau-Prince.
Martine Moise survived and was flown to Florida for treatment.
Mr Charles said more members of the hit squad were still at large.
“Four mercenaries were killed, two were intercepted under our control.
“Three policemen who had been taken hostage have been recovered.”
Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the US, told Reuters the gunmen, whom he described as being well-trained “foreign mercenaries”, were masquerading as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
Officials said the attackers spoke Spanish and English – Haiti is a majority French or Creole-speaking nation.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a national “state of siege” and said he was now in charge.
“Everything is under control,” he said.
At the UN Security Council, members called unanimously “for the perpetrators of this abhorrent crime to be swiftly brought to justice”.
The killing drew condemnation from world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.
Haiti, a country of 11.2 million people, has struggled to achieve stability since the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 and has grappled with a series of coups and foreign interventions.
Police on Thursday were still piecing together the details of the attack, while bullet casings could still be seen on the street outside the house.
A nearby car was peppered with bullet holes.
The attack on the president’s home began at about 1am local time on Wednesday with gunmen pulling up to the house.
Magistrate Carl Henry Destin told Le Nouvelliste newspaper that the commandos shouted “DEA operation” as they burst in and that a maid and a domestic staff member were tied up.
He said the president’s body was found with 12 bullet holes.
“The president’s office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on his back, blue pants, a white shirt smeared with blood,” he said.
The president’s wife was first treated at a local hospital then taken by air ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Centre in Miami.
Mr Joseph said she was “out of danger” and later that “her situation is stable”.
Their daughter, Jomarlie, was at home during the attack but hid in a bedroom, Mr Destin said.
During his four years in office as president, Moise had six prime ministers. A couple of days before he was killed, he had nominated a seventh, Ariel Henry.