Kenyan cop shot, injured during operation in Haiti

A Kenyan police officer in the ongoing Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti was on Tuesday shot and injured during an operation in Port-au-Prince.

Officials said the police officer was injured while conducting a security operation in Kenscoff, within the Belot area.

The officer was promptly evacuated to ASPEN Level 2 Hospital, where he is receiving medical attention and is in stable condition, the mission spokesman Jack Ombaka said.

“He is in stable condition and we are pursuing the gang behind the shooting,” Ombaka without elaborating on the nature of the injuries.

He is the second police officer to be shot and injured in the mission so far.

This came a day before Constable Samuel Tompoi Kaetuai who was shot and killed on February 23 in the same area is set to be buried in his rural home in Kajiado.

Kaetuai will be buried on March 19 at his rural home at an event to be attended by top police officers and politicians.

Kaetuai died out of a single shot to his head, an autopsy on his body showed.

Kaetuai was among a team that was pursuing a gang when he was shot in the head and died.

Kenya has deployed at least 800 police officers under MSS mission to Haiti to help in combating gangs.

Inspector General of the National Police Service Douglas Kanja had led senior officers in visiting and condoling with the family and friends of Kaetuai.

The officers visited the family at Naserian Village, Kajiado East Sub-County, Kajiado County, as they mourned his demise.

Kanja eulogised Kaetuai as a hero and ambassador who lost his life in the line of duty while defending global peace.

He acknowledged that the officer was well-trained for the mission and that his death is a great loss to the National Police Service.

He assured that the well-being of the officers deployed for the mission in Haiti remains a top priority of the Kenyan government, and there is constant communication with the team to ensure they receive the necessary support.

Haiti has been grappling with escalating gang violence, with the United Nations reporting that at least 5,601 people were killed in gang-related incidents last year—1,000 more than in 2023.

The UN also documented 315 lynchings of alleged gang members and 281 suspected summary executions by police. This violence has displaced over a million Haitians, according to the UN’s migration agency.

Gang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order, the collapse of health services and the emergence of a food security crisis.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in the Caribbean nation in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.

Haiti's transitional presidential council, the body created to re-establish democratic order, has made little progress towards organising long-delayed elections.

The current mission is expected to have a total of 2,500 personnel, with the Bahamas, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers.