Haiti PM Says 'Hats Off' To Bukele As Salvadoran Troops Strike Gang Base

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AFP

San Salvador: Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime praised El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday after Salvadoran military forces collaborated with Haitian police to destroy the alleged residence of a powerful Haitian gang leader.

The note of support from Alix Didier Fils-Aime, in a post on X, comes amid a deployment by Bukele of more than 2,000 soldiers into Haiti.

The move, which followed the disappearance of four Salvadoran soldiers, has raised concerns about the contingent's rules of engagement and coordination with other security forces, including the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

"We destroyed the house of (gang leader) Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters," Bukele wrote Tuesday on X, in Haitian Creole.

The right-wing leader posted video of at least three helicopters circling overhead and firing on the two-story house in Croix-des-Bouquets, near the capital Port-au-Prince. People are seen fleeing the area.

The Miami Herald newspaper reported that the attack took place on Sunday and was conducted by a Haitian police task force backed by Salvadoran troops. Twenty people died, it wrote on Monday, citing anonymous sources.

"I salute the commitment of the Salvadoran forces in the fight against gangs," File-Aime wrote in a post, accompanied by a screenshot from Bukele's video.

"Hats off to President Nayib Bukele...for your support and commitment to the national fight against gangs."

"Haiti, El Salvador, GSF: same fight, same determination!" he added.

The gang leader, whose real name is Wilson Joseph, was not in the house at the time of the attack, pro-government media in El Salvador reported.

The 400 Mawozo gang is known for kidnappings and extortion. In 2021, it abducted 16 US missionaries and a Canadian.

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