Salvadoran-Backed Airstrikes Decimate Haitian Gang Stronghold as Search for Missing Peacekeepers Intensifies

El Salvador’s president announced Tuesday that his nation’s military supported a devastating aerial assault on the headquarters of one of Haiti’s most formidable criminal organizations, a group implicated in mass kidnappings, arms trafficking, and systemic extortion.

The Sunday operation near Port-au-Prince targeted strongholds belonging to the 400 Mawozo gang and the residence of its leader, Lanmò San Jou, according to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. The strikes were executed by a Haitian police task force with backing from Salvadoran troops deployed as part of a U.N.-supported security mission, The Miami Herald reported.

El Salvador’s president said the operation destroyed a major Haiti gang’s headquarters used for kidnappings, weapons trafficking and extortion. (@nayibbukele/X)

The offensive appears linked to the October 18 ambush in which four Salvadoran members of the U.N.-backed mission were abducted near the capital. Following the attack, authorities discovered a burned armored vehicle with no sign of the missing personnel, prompting El Salvador to surge thousands of additional troops to the region to aid the search.

“We kept our promise,” Bukele posted on X, formerly Twitter, alongside footage showing helicopters striking multiple compounds within sprawling complexes. Video evidence captured dozens of individuals fleeing the targeted properties on foot and motorbikes in the wake of the bombardment.

“Most of them ran away without even trying to fight. What cowards!” Bukele wrote.

Anonymous sources cited by The Miami Herald estimate as many as 20 people were killed in the operation.

Dozens of people run through the area after a helicopter strike targeting a gang headquarters in Haiti. (@nayibbukele/X)

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé expressed gratitude Tuesday for Bukele’s commitment to confronting the nation’s protracted gang crisis and reasserting state authority. He commended the efforts of the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), the Haitian National Police, the Haitian Armed Forces, and their international partners.

“I salute the commitment of the Salvadoran forces in the fight against gangs,” Fils-Aimé stated. “Hats off to President Nayib Bukele @nayibbukele for your support and commitment to the national fight against gangs. Haiti, El Salvador, GSF: same fight, same determination! The collaboration will continue. THE GANGS WILL GET NO SLEEP!”

Black smoke rises across a field after a helicopter strike targeting a major gang’s headquarters in Haiti. (@nayibbukele/X)

While Salvadoran officials maintain the abducted troops are alive and were taken captive, one gang leader has claimed they were killed. The disappearance has become a national priority for Bukele, who has warned Haitian gang leadership that El Salvador is prepared to employ overwhelming force if the four men are not returned safely.

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