Two Haiti police officers killed after weaponized ‘kamikaze' drone explodes

Miami Herald

5 hours ago

Two Haitian police officers were killed and six others injured after a weaponized drone launched by a gang-fighting task force exploded in the hills above Port-au-Prince, near where an Irish missionary and several others were abducted by armed gangs.
The accident Tuesday occurred after residents in Kenscoff found a so-called kamikazi drone and 'in a gesture of good faith' carried it to police officers stationed at a nearby SWAT base, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé's office. The drone 'exploded at the site, claiming the lives of two police officers and seriously injuring two others,' the statement said. A kamikaze drone, also known as a suicide drone, is designed to hover over an area, crash into a target and detonate on impact.
Several sources confirmed to the Miami Herald that six officers were hurt during the detonation. They were taken to a medical facility where the recently installed police chief, André Jonas Vladimir Paraison, stayed at their side during the night.
The latest police deaths bring the total number of officers killed in Haiti's battles with gangs to 29 so far this year, according to statistics compiled by the National Human Rights Defense Network. Most of the deaths occurred in the fight to wrest control back from gangs.
In Kenscoff, the Haiti National Police and the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, which has lost two police officers during gang ambushes, have had eight of their armored vehicles taken or set ablaze since armed groups began attacking the mountaintop community in late January. In addition to forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes, gangs have set fire to homes and businesses, kidnapped, killed and raped people in the area. On Aug. 3 an attack against Sainte-Hélène Home, a local orphanage caring for disabled kids, led to the abduction of eight people, including a 3 year-old boy and longtime Irish missionary Gena Heraty, who remains captive.
As word of the explosion circulated within the rank and file of Haiti's beleaguered national police force on Tuesday afternoon, witnesses reported non-stop shooting from inside the SWAT base next to the headquarters of the Haiti National Police. The seriousness of the incident and lack of clarity over what happened triggered demands for an 'urgent investigation' from local human rights advocates.
Social media accounts, some of them appearing to be from police officers, have raised questions about what happened. While one account says the drone was brought to police by area residents, another claimed the drone was dropped on the police station.
A source close to the prime minister's officer told the Herald the incident was 'a tragic accident.' The droe operators had lost contact with the device due to poor weather, he said. After residents found the drone they took to the police officers nearby, where the cops inspected it and took photos. About 10 minutes later the drone exploded, killing the two officers, the source added. A separate source told the Herald the drone blew up after officers attempted to remove its battery pack.
The Haiti National Police, in a statement expressing condolences to the families of the victims, said it is investigating the incident but did not go into details of what happened.
Earlier this year, Haiti's transition government began employing the services of Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy seal who founded the controversial security firm Blackwater. Prince, a major donor to President Donald Trump, currently has a one-year, $50 million deal with the Haitian government through his new firm Vectus Global to deploy private military contractors to help Haiti in its fight against gangs.
But the firm's use of weaponized drones has raised concerns about the escalating violence, potential civilian casualties and human rights abuses. Earlier in the day, gangs once more attacked the Saint-Hélène Home where Heraty, the missionary, serves as director.
Gangs abducted two other people from the orphanage but later released them. Heraty, who has been working in Haiti since 1993, remains missing, along with two others. Sainte-Hélène Home is affiliated with Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos-NPH International, which was founded by a Catholic priest and has affiliates throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.