Haitian gang releases 13 hostages after deadly Kenscoff attack

The attackers targeted Kenscoff, a farming community, on August 23

A violent Haitian gang has released 13 hostages — seven women and six children — from among 50 people it kidnapped nearly a week ago when it launched a deadly attack on a farming community near the capital, Port-au-Prince. Unicef, the United Nations’ children’s agency that helped secure their release, said late Friday that those freed included three children under the age of two, a seven-year-old child, and two teenage girls. According to Unicef, it worked with leaders of Kenscoff, the targeted farming settlement, to help secure the release of the women and children. It was not immediately clear whether they needed medical treatment or whether more women and children remained in captivity. “This release offers a rare moment of hope amid the violence threatening children in Haiti. The Kenscoff abduction was not an isolated incident but another stark reminder of the scale and frequency of attacks on children across the country,” Yannig Dussart, Unicef’s deputy representative in the Caribbean nation, told The Associated Press. Gangs killed at least 47 people during the August 23 attack on Kenscoff, a once-peaceful farming community in the hills above Port-au-Prince. A gang leader known as Izo 2 had threatened to execute all the hostages if police killed any gang members during their efforts to secure the abductees. Izo 2 leads an armed group in the area on behalf of, and in coordination with, other gang leaders, including Izo, who is considered one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders. UN estimates show that attacks in Kenscoff over two months in early 2025 killed more than 260 people and resulted in the destruction or burning of 200 homes. Around 3,000 people were forced to flee. Nearly a dozen further attacks have occurred since then, involving rape, kidnapping, arson and livestock theft. The neighbourhood overlooks routes leading to Petion-Ville, where several embassies, upscale hotels and the temporary seat of government are located. It also overlooks a major road connecting the capital with southern Haiti. While individual kidnappings are commonplace in Haiti, mass abductions are less common. Their outcomes vary: Some hostages are released without a ransom being paid, while others are killed despite multiple ransom payments.