Four burned bodies found in Haiti could be those of Salvadoran military personnel

The finding marks the first fatal casualties of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. REUTERS/Patrice Noel Four bodies believed to belong to Salvadoran military personnel were recovered on Saturday in Haiti, six days after an ambush against the helicopter unit in which they were serving as part of an international mission against gangs. The remains were severely burned and will need to undergo autopsies to confirm the identities, The New York Times reported. The finding would mark the first fatal casualties of the Gang Suppression Force, backed by the United Nations Security Council. The mission has amassed just over 2,000 members from Jamaica, Chad, Mongolia, El Salvador, Sri Lanka and Guatemala, despite its planned deployment of 5,500 personnel. The New York Times report also recounts that the men were traveling last Sunday in an armored vehicle through Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, when they came under gunfire. They abandoned the vehicle, which was later found burned, while returning from shopping at a supermarket through an area normally off-limits to foreigners. The four were part of El Salvador's contingent of aviation pilots and technicians, in charge of transport and medical evacuations for the multinational force. The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, had said days earlier that their duties consisted of saving lives and "not waging a war." Four bodies attributed to Salvadoran military personnel were recovered in Haiti after an ambush against their helicopter unit. REUTERS/Patrice Noel TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo The bodies were collected at an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the capital and taken to the international airport, according to The New York Times, where they were handed over to a Salvadoran military team that had arrived on Friday. Scott Reece, a former security official at the U.S. State Department, said that his humanitarian organization, Hero Client Rescue, was called in to recover the remains. "We were called in as a neutral humanitarian medical team to go collect the remains," Reece explained, as quoted by The New York Times. Another person close to the mission told the newspaper that the security force had the four bodies in custody, although the condition of the burns prevented immediate identification. Bukele had sent hundreds of special forces members to Haiti to search for the missing and had warned that he would finish off the criminal gangs if the men were not returned alive. Reuters reported that the leader had said on Wednesday that the four remained in captivity and that a military operation had been launched to rescue them. No group publicly claimed responsibility for the attack. Local media linked the ambush to Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo, two armed gangs operating in the northern area of Port-au-Prince. Four bodies attributed to Salvadoran military personnel were recovered in Haiti after an ambush against their helicopter unit. (File photo, courtesy of FAES) The new mission arrived in Haiti in April, after the failure of another international police operation intended to contain the violence. Reuters noted that a previous effort led by Kenya faced a persistent lack of funding, equipment and personnel. Gangs expanded in Haiti following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, took control of large areas of the capital and forced between 1.4 and 1.5 million people to flee their homes. They have also been blamed for thousands of murders and for taking over entire neighborhoods in recent years.