El Salvador's president threatens Haitian gangs over military hostages

El Salvador's president has said he has launched a military operation to rescue four air force personnel who have been missing in Haiti since Sunday.

Nayib Bukele wrote in a post on X that Wednesday's attack was "nothing" compared with what would happen if all the hostages - who he said were not combatants - were not returned alive.

They went missing after being ambushed by "heavily armed criminal groups," El Salvador's armed forces said. The ambush occurred in Croix-des-Bouquets, an area controlled by armed groups.

They were part of the so-called Gang Suppression Force (GSF), approved by the United Nations Security Council earlier this month, to tackle escalating gang violence in Haiti.

According to Bukele, the mission consisted of pilots and technical personnel, whose primary jobs were to "carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war".

His post said the Salvadoran military operation's single objective was to bring the four men back home alive.

He added that if all four 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 buying food at a market in the area.

A statement released 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 responsibility for the attack.

Salvadoran helicopters were deployed to assist, with multiple attempts to make an approach by land and air hampered by fighting and local security conditions, the armed forces said.

On Wednesday, before Bukele announced the launch of the military operation, the GSF said it was searching for the four missing 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 conditions, 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 ago postponed presidential and legislative elections - scheduled for 13 December - indefinitely.

The country has been wracked by economic chaos, a political vacuum and increasingly 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 currently control about 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.