At least three people were killed when armed men in Haiti opened fire on journalists, police and medical workers during a press conference to announce the reopening of the country’s largest public hospital.
It is reported that two journalists and a policeman were shot dead, while others were injured in an incident on Tuesday at a hospital in the capital Port-au-Prince.
The site was retaken by the Haitian government in July, after being slaughtered and vandalized by gangs.
The Viv Ansanm gang alliance, which controls much of the city, has been instrumental in the attacks.
Pictures posted online appear to show several people injured or dead inside the building.
Journalists were waiting for the arrival of the Minister of Health Lorthe Blema when the shooting started.
Journalists Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean were killed during the attack, Robust Dimanche, spokesman for the Online Media Collective, told AFP.
Some journalists were injured, he added.
A police officer was also killed, police spokesman Lionel Lazarre told AFP.
“It felt like a terrible movie,” Dieugo André, a photographer who witnessed the violence, was quoted as saying by the Haitian Times.
“I have the blood of injured journalists on my clothes.”
In an online video claiming the attack, the Viv Ansanm gang coalition said it had not approved the opening of the hospital, which they demolished in March.
The head of Haiti’s presidential transition council, Leslie Voltaire, said: “We express our sympathy to all the families of the victims, especially to the Haitian National Police and to all journalist organizations.
“We assure them that this action will not always be without consequences.”
Haitians continue to suffer from an intolerable level of gang violence, despite the installation of a new transitional government in April and the deployment of an international force led by Kenyan police six months ago.
Haiti has been plagued by gang violence since the assassination of then-president Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
An estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince is still controlled by gangs.
The UN says an estimated 5,000 people have been killed in violence in Haiti this year alone, and the country is on the verge of collapse.
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