Mr.Talha Posted July 10, 2021 Posted July 10, 2021 Link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57762246 Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by armed assailants who stormed his private residence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on 7 July. Here is what we know so far. A group of gunmen broke into the home of President Moïse in the Pelerin neighbourhood at 01:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday 7 July. They shot the president 12 times. Mr Moïse was found lying on his back, his shirt soaked in blood, with his left eye gouged out, a magistrate said. He had bullet wounds to his forehead, and several to his torso. He died at the scene. The First Lady, Martine Moïse, was also shot but survived. She has been airlifted to Florida, in the US, and is said to be in a stable condition. The couple's adult daughter, Jomarlie Moïse, hid in her brother's bedroom and was unhurt. She and her two brothers are in "safe locations", officials said. Video footage, which has not been independently verified but which is thought to have been taken as the assailants entered the property, shows armed men dressed in black arriving in white SUVs. A man appears to have been forced to lie face down in the street while another man can be heard shouting in English over loudspeaker "DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration} operation, everybody stay down!" Haiti's ambassador to the US, Bocchit Edmond, said that while the attackers had disguised themselves as US drug agents, he believed there was "no way" they really were US agents. Officials say that the ground between the property's gatehouse and the residence was littered with cartridge cases, indicating that multiple shots were fired. The gunmen tied up two members of the domestic staff, while continuing to shout "DEA operation". They ransacked Mr Moïse's office and took a cheque book in the couple's names as well as the servers that held the surveillance camera footage from the residence. The two top security officials in charge of Mr Moïse's safety are under investigation and have been summoned to appear at hearings scheduled for 13 and 14 July. Haiti's police chief announced some 24 hours after Mr Moïse's assassination that a fierce gun battle was under way in the Pelerin neighbourhood. "We blocked [the suspects] en route as they left the scene of the crime. Since then, we have been battling them" Chief Léon Charles said without specifying an exact timeline. The police chief also said officers had managed to free three policeman who had been taken hostage by the gunmen. He originally said four suspects had been killed in the gun battle, but that number has since been revised down to three. It has emerged that 11 of the suspects fled to Taiwan's diplomatic compound in Port-au-Prince. Taiwanese officials said they were informed by Haitian police that the suspects were hiding in the compound early on 8 July, more than 24 hours after the attack. Taiwan allowed the police access and all 11 suspects hiding within were arrested "without problems". Two suspects who were hiding in a ravine were caught by civilians who had joined in the search. The body of one alleged gunman was found on the roof of a home, where he bled to death while hiding. Two more suspects were found dead very close to the president's residence.
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