A gang leader in Haiti is injured in a shootout with Haitian and Kenyan police

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A leader of one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs was injured in a shootout with Haitian and Kenyan police in their first major incursion into gang-controlled territory since a U.N.-backed mission began earlier this year, police said Tuesday.

The second-in-command of the Kraze Baryè gang, known simply as “Deshommes,” was shot in Torcelle, a community the gang controls in the southeast region of the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti National Police said in a statement Tuesday.

Some 20 other gang members were killed during the police operations, which occurred on Saturday and Monday, officials said, adding that they confiscated firearms, munitions, phones and “sensitive materials and equipment.” Nobody was detained in the operations, and police didn't say how they know that Deshommes was injured.

Police said the incursions would continue until the gang and its top leader, Vitel’Homme Innocent, could be neutralized.

In a statement, the Kenyans who are leading the mission called on Innocent to “stop committing atrocities against innocent Haitians.”

“(The mission) is sending a strong warning to key gang leaders to stop the barbarous acts of rapes, extortion, kidnapping, blackmail and killings,” they said.

Innocent has been sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. Security Council, with the U.S. offering a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture. He has been indicted in the U.S. for the armed kidnapping of 16 Christian missionaries in 2021 and the slaying of missionary Marie Franklin and kidnapping of her husband in 2022.

In a recent video, Innocent stands near an armored vehicle set on fire that police said they were forced to abandon due to engine failure during one of their operations.

Innocent claimed the gang was not giving police any problems and accused them of “hurting too many innocent people.” He also said the gang has the power to decide who enters and leaves the community it controls.

Kraze Baryè is an ally of the G-Pèp gang federation, an enemy of G9 Family and Allies, another federation led by former elite police officer Jimmy Chérizier, best known as Barbecue.

Kraze Baryè has about 600 members and controls the community of Tabarre as well as parts of Pétionville and Croix-des-Bouquets. The gang is accused of killings, drug and weapon trafficking, rapes, robberies and other crimes, according to the U.N., which called it “one of the most powerful gangs” in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

Kenyan officials pledged that “the pressure will be sustained on the gangs until or unless they surrender to the authorities.”

They also noted that operations are still ongoing in the central town of Pont-Sondé, where at least 115 people were killed by another gang earlier this month.

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, left, and Kenya's President William Ruto, right, shake hands after a joint at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's oldest zoo is seeking answers in a monkey medical mystery after nine animals died in two days, including three members of a critically endangered species.

Part of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens has been sealed off and disinfected, and experts have been called in to conduct necropsies and toxicological tests, Hong Kong leader John Lee said in his weekly press briefing Tuesday.

Eight monkeys were found dead on Sunday, and another died Monday after displaying unusual behavior. The deceased animals are a De Brazza’s monkey, a common squirrel monkey, four white-faced sakis and three cotton-top tamarins — a species listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“Whenever we have any news, if there’s a new development, an announcement should be made as soon as possible, so that everyone can know about the facts,” Lee said.

On Monday, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung held an urgent interdepartmental meeting about the deaths with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Department of Health. It said in a statement that another De Brazza’s monkey’s behavior and appetite were found to be unusual, requiring further observation.

All 80 other animals in the gardens were in normal condition, it added.

In a statement Tuesday night, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said the monkey’s condition remained stable. The department was still awaiting test results and provided no clues about the possible cause of the deaths.

The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens — the oldest park in the former British colony — fully opened to the public in 1871. It is a rare urban oasis in the downtown Central district of the financial hub, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

A buff-cheeked gibbon swings in its cage at Hong Kong's Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo)

A cordon with the words danger is placed around the enclosures of monkeys after the mysterious deaths of several monkeys at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo)