El Salvador’s president has said he has launched a navy operation to rescue 4 air drive personnel who have been lacking in Haiti since Sunday.
Nayib Bukele wrote in a post on X that Wednesday’s attack was “nothing” in contrast with what would occur if all the hostages – who he said were not combatants – were not returned alive.
They went lacking after being ambushed by “heavily armed criminal groups,” El Salvador’s armed forces said. The ambush occurred in Croix-des-Bouquets, an space managed by armed teams.
They were half of the so-called Gang Suppression Force (GSF), authorised by the United Nations Security Council earlier this month, to sort out escalating gang violence in Haiti.
According to Bukele, the mission consisted of pilots and technical personnel, whose main jobs were to “carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war”.
His post said the Salvadoran navy operation’s single goal was to convey the 4 males back home alive.
He added that if all 4 were returned alive, without being harmed, “everything will go back to how it was before the kidnapping”.
Bukele added they were kidnapped “in a cowardly manner” while returning after shopping for food at a market in the space.
An announcement launched by the Armed Forces of El Salvador on Sunday said the group was ambushed while travelling back to its camp in an armoured vehicle, which caught fire after being hit by explosives.
So far, no gang has claimed duty for the attack.
Salvadoran helicopters were deployed to help, with a number of makes an attempt to make an method by land and air hampered by preventing and native security situations, the armed forces said.
On Wednesday, before Bukele announced the launch of the navy operation, the GSF said it was looking for the 4 lacking personnel following the attack.
It added that it had “engaged armed gang elements, with helicopter support” and that early reports had indicated that several gang members were killed.
Earlier this week, the UN warned that Haiti’s armed gangs were adapting to intensified security situations, saying that they were “stepping up reprisals against civilians and extending their reach into rural areas”.
Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and two weeks in the past postponed presidential and legislative elections – scheduled for 13 December – indefinitely.
The nation has been wracked by financial chaos, a political vacuum and more and more violent gang warfare since its president was assassinated in 2021.
More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in Haiti in 2024. Armed gangs at the moment control about 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
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