HAITI – An armoured vehicle carrying Kenyan police rumbles through Haiti’s capital with a shattered window that a high-calibre bullet failed to penetrate, a permanent sign of violence the officers face almost daily in Port-au-Prince. The Kenyans, who were deployed to Haiti earlier this year to help quell gang violence, have faced relentless attacks. On Thursday, gunfire erupted in Port-au-Prince as Kenyan officers repelled heavily armed gangs that run 85 per cent of the city and are fighting to seize full control. The Kenyans, joined by Haitian officers, crouched behind sandbags and a concrete wall at the former offices of the National Police that authorities were forced to abandon in recent years by encroaching gangs. Bullets whizzed by as police kept their heads down low and returned fire. “The days are numbered for the gangs,” Godfrey Otunge, commander of the United Nations-backed mission led by Kenya, told The Associated Press. “Either you surrender … or we are coming for you.” Police face a daunting task. More than 4,500 people have been reported killed in Haiti so far this year, and another 2,060 injured, according to the UN. (Jamaca Gleaner)

Photo: Kenyan police officers, part of a UN-backed multinational force, exchange fire with gang members at a Kenyan police base in the Delmas neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP)