MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Haitian police kills 4, arrest 2 other suspects of president's assassination

Joseph also discussed the upcoming September elections with US Secretary of State Blinken

Haitian police chief Léon Charles announced late on Wednesday that four of the alleged assassins of President Jovenel Moïse had been gunned down by law enforcement officers, while two others had been arrested.

Charles also explained that three police officers who had been held captive by the suspects could be released during the operation. He added that some of the suspects had taken refuge in the wealthy Pèlerin area but they have left no escape route after all roads were blocked by security officers.

The police chief appeared before the media alongside Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

The alleged murderers were intercepted by the police after an intense shooting in the Pèlerin sector, where Moïse's residence is located, “shortly before 6 o'clock in the afternoon”, Communications Secretary Frantz Exantus wrote on Twitter.

Culture Minister Pradel Henríquez insisted that the attackers were foreigners who spoke Spanish and English, but did not provide details about their nationality or identity.

Joseph also stressed that the country's situation was “under control” and that a post-mortem was performed on the body of the slain president, which is being stored at a Port-au-Prince morgue pending funeral arrangements.

First Lady Martine Moïse, injured in the attack, has been reported to be “out of danger” as per her own words from a Miami hospital where she was flown later in the day.

Joseph also reported that he had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with whom he discussed the organization of the presidential and legislative elections, set for September 26.

President Moïse was shot to death at dawn during a raid by a commando of armed men on his residence, an attack in which his wife was also wounded. The attackers reportedly broke into the presidential residence and identified themselves as US agents of the Drug Control Administration (DEA).

Deputy Justice Carl Henry Destin, a magistrate handling the criminal case, told the media that 12 bullet holes from large-calibre weapons were found in the president's body. “The president's office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on his back, with blue pants, a white shirt stained with blood, his mouth open and his left eye pierced,” he said.

Destin specified that bullet holes were found in the president's forehead, in each nipple, three in the hip and one in the abdomen.

He also reported that the armed group tied up one of the security guards and an employee, while the daughter of the presidential couple, Jomarlie Moïse, hid in her brother's room.

A state of siege and a curfew has been imposed effective Thursday. People must remain in their homes, and the authorities may carry out searches as required.

The country has been declared in national mourning until July 22, while airports and the land border with the Dominican Republic are closed.