A coordinated gang assault on rural communities in Haiti's Artibonite region over the weekend left scores dead and thousands displaced, with rights groups putting the death toll as high as 70 while authorities confirmed only 16 fatalities, laying bare the chronic dysfunction plaguing the country's security response, Reuters reported.

The Gran Grif gang, designated a foreign terrorist organisation by Washington last year, attacked the Jean-Denis area near Petite-Rivière de l'Artibonite in the early hours of March 29, with further violence reported the following day. Armed men descended on the area in a coordinated assault, firing on residents and torching homes as they advanced. Survivors described corpses left in the open along roadsides the following morning, and rights group Défenseurs Plus estimated at least 50 houses were burned to the ground.

The wide divergence in casualty estimates reflects the difficulty of accessing an area where gang members continued to roam after the attack, with some local officials and media warning the toll could exceed 85. A spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General said the organisation's Haiti mission, BINUH, was closely monitoring developments and called for a thorough investigation.

Haiti's National Police said it deployed armoured vehicles but was slowed by trenches gang members had dug in the roads. Officers, supported by Kenyan Gang Suppression Force personnel, restored order on March 29 but the armed group had largely fled by the time security forces arrived.

"The lack of a security response and the abandonment of Artibonite to armed groups demonstrate a complete abdication of responsibility by the authorities," Défenseurs Plus said in a joint statement with the Collectif pour Sauver l'Artibonite.

An audio message circulated on social media and attributed to Gran Grif leader Luckson Elan suggested the attack was retaliatory, framing it as a response to an assault on the gang's base in Savien by a rival armed group. According to the BBC, the attack is believed to have been led by a commander known as "Ti Kenken", himself a former vigilante leader who switched allegiances to join Gran Grif, a shift that experts say illustrates the dangerous fluidity of armed actors in the country.

Analysts say the attack appeared highly coordinated, with roads blocked in advance to prevent police intervention. As in previous large-scale attacks, warnings had reportedly preceded the violence, drawing fresh criticism of the authorities' failure to act on advance intelligence.

The Artibonite, Haiti's principal agricultural region, has become one of the country's most violent flashpoints. The latest massacre follows a Gran Grif rampage in October 2024 in the nearby town of Pont-Sondé that left more than 100 dead, with gunmen conducting a systematic sweep through the town targeting residents accused of siding with a rival group.

The weekend's bloodshed is the latest chapter in a deepening national catastrophe. A UN Human Rights Office report published this month documented at least 5,519 people killed and 2,608 injured across the violence-stricken nation between March 2025 and mid-January 2026, with armed groups controlling roughly 90% of Port-au-Prince and extending their reach into the Artibonite and Centre departments. Close to 20,000 people have been killed in Haiti since 2021, with the annual toll rising each year.

The violence has driven approximately 1.4mn people — around 12% of the population — from their homes, worsening an already acute economic and humanitarian crisis in which nearly half of all Haitians face food insecurity. The Artibonite's agricultural output, critical to national food supplies, has come under sustained pressure as gangs expand territorial control across the region.

Security concerns have also extended to the conduct of forces ostensibly tasked with restoring order. The same UN report found that security operations, including drone strikes carried out by a private military contractor reportedly hired by the government, had caused at least 3,497 deaths, more than double the fatalities attributed directly to gang violence. Human Rights Watch identified the contractor as Vectus Global, the firm of former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince, which deployed nearly 200 personnel to Haiti. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has called the drone operations disproportionate and likely unlawful.

The multinational police mission deployed in 2024 has struggled to confront armed groups operating with superior firepower and numbers. A larger UN-backed Gang Suppression Force is expected to begin arriving in April, though Türk has cautioned it can only prove effective if backed by serious efforts to prosecute those who fund and organise gang activity.

This month, Washington offered rewards of up to $3mn for information on the financial networks sustaining Gran Grif and the Viv Ansanm coalition, both of which the US State Department has designated as terrorist organisations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the groups' ultimate aim was to “create a gang-controlled state in which criminal trafficking operated freely.”