PORT AU PRINCE: Haitian police were on Thursday hunting for more gunmen behind the assassination of President Jovenel Moise after killing or capturing six “mercenaries”, with the nation under a state of siege.
Security forces engaged in a fierce shootout with the suspected assailants in the capital, Port-au-Prince early Wednesday after the overnight attack on the president’s private residence.
Four gunmen were killed by Haitian police, and two more taken into custody, while other members of the hit squad are at large, Police Chief Leon Charles said.
Officials have not identified the suspects or said what their motives were for shooting dead Moise and wounding his wife Martine, who survived.
The assassination has pitched the already impoverished and violence-plagued Caribbean nation into further turmoil.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a national “state of siege” and said he was now in charge.
The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting over the crisis on Thursday as Haiti enters a two-week mourning period for the head of state.
Charles, the head of Haiti’s national police, vowed to catch the perpetrators.
“We are chasing them so that either in the exchange of fire they will be killed or we will apprehend them,” he said.
He added that three police officers who had been taken hostage had been recovered. The airport was closed in Port-au-Prince, but witnesses said the city was quiet with the streets deserted and no extra security forces on patrol.
The attack took place around 1:00 am (0500 GMT) at Moise’s home. Shell casings could be seen on the street outside as forensics experts combed the scene for evidence. A nearby car was peppered with bullet holes.
Magistrate Carl Henry Destin told the Nouvelliste newspaper that the president’s body had twelve bullet holes in it, from large caliber rifles and smaller 9mm weapons, to the forehead, chest, hips and abdomen.
“The president’s office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on his back, blue pants, a white shirt smeared with blood, his mouth open, his left eye gouged out,” he said.
Moise’s wife was first treated at a local hospital then rushed by air ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.
Joseph said she was “out of danger”, later adding that “her situation is stable.”
Their daughter Jomarlie was in the home during the attack but hid in a bedroom, Destin, the magistrate, said.
He said a maid and another domestic staff member had been tied up by the commandos who allegedly shouted “DEA operation” as they burst in.
Joseph said the president was “assassinated at his home by foreigners who spoke English and Spanish.”
“This death will not go unpunished,” Joseph said in an address to the nation.
Haiti’s ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, also said the killers were “professional” mercenaries disguised as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
The unpopular Moise had ruled Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed.
In addition to the political chaos, kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months.
The capital’s streets were at a standstill in the hours after the assassination, with just a handful of citizens outdoors.
“We didn’t expect it. This is another earthquake in Haiti,” said a mother of two who gave her name only as Bernadette, referring to deadly 2010 quake.
“I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,” said 50-year-old Jacquelyn.
Haiti will observe two weeks of national mourning from Thursday.
