ByREUTERS
Updated:

At least 70 people were killed in Haiti's breadbasket Artibonite region, the director of a human rights group said on Monday, a significantly higher toll than initial government figures.

A police report said at least 16 people were killed and 10 others injured on Sunday amid a conflict with the Gran Grif gang.

Local media said the violence began in the Jean-Denis neighborhood.

Debris and rubble line the ground around houses destroyed by armed gangs two years ago in the Solino neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2026.
Debris and rubble line the ground around houses destroyed by armed gangs two years ago in the Solino neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2026. (credit: Clarens SIFFROY / AFP via Getty Images)

UN: More than 2,000 displaced

The attack follows United Nations reports that more than 2,000 people were recently displaced by armed raids in nearby Verrettes, prompting residents in Petite-Riviere to flee their homes.

The Artibonite department, a key agricultural area, has seen some of the country's worst violence as gang conflict spreads beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince.