Armed groups clash with residents and police after plans for attack on Pétionville area announced on social media

Gangs have launched a fresh attack on Haiti’s capital, targeting an upscale community in Port-au-Prince where people with guns clashed with residents who fought side by side with police.

The attack on Pétionville was led by the Viv Ansanm group, whose leader, former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, had announced the plan in a video posted on social media.

Medical NGOs and activists have said that calling in military intervention risks escalating brutal Port-au-Prince violence

Medical NGOs and civil society groups in Haiti have warned that the government’s plan to request foreign military intervention to restore order will only cause more bloodshed in the beleaguered nation.

On Friday, the government formally authorized the prime minister, Ariel Henry, to request “specialised armed forces” to take back control of Port-au-Prince from the hundreds of gangs who have tightened their grip over the capital in recent weeks.

• Two burned to death and 13 died in hospital due to asphyxiation
• Facility was run by US Christian group

Fifteen children have died after a fire swept through an orphanage in Haiti run by a US Christian group, triggering renewed controversy over the proliferation of non-registered orphanages in the poorest nation in the Americas.

Two children burned to death when fire broke out at the orphanage of the Church of Bible Understanding on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince on Thursday night. Thirteen others died in hospital due to asphyxiation.