Drone explosion in Haiti kills 2 SWAT members and injures 6 others

By Frances Robles

Two Haitian police officers were killed and six others injured earlier this week when a drone intended for targeting gang members exploded at a police base in Port-au-Prince, officials said.

It was the first government acknowledgement of collateral damage in Haiti’s use of aerial bombs against armed criminal groups.

Since March, a task force under the Haitian prime minister’s office made up of the police, military and other entities has been operating drones to target gang members.

An American private military contractor, Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, is a key adviser to the group, which has been criticized for operating in secret and failing to coordinate operations with the Haitian National Police.

On Tuesday, an attack drone launched by the task force landed in an empty field without detonating. Local residents found it and took it to a police SWAT team base in the Kenscoff area of Port-au-Prince, the capital, according to a senior Haitian official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Members of the SWAT team were trying to disarm the device when it exploded, killing two officers, the official said.

Two of the six injured survivors were seriously wounded, Fritz Alphonse Jean, a member of Haiti’s presidential council, announced on social platform X.

“At the presidential level, we ask all our brave police officers to remain calm, keep our morale high and continue the fight to liberate our country,” he wrote, after visiting the wounded officers in the hospital. “We are taking all measures to shed light on this drama and provide good support to get through this difficult time.”

Drone strikes began targeting members of “Viv Ansanm,” a coalition of gangs the Trump administration officially designated foreign terrorists that has been terrorizing Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region for several years. More than 5,000 people were killed last year, and 1.3 million people — more than 10% of the country’s population — have been forced from their homes by the violence.

The strikes have yet to kill any leading gang members, though several have reportedly been injured.