At least 70 people have been killed and 3,000 forced to flee when armed men belonging to the Gran Grif gang attacked a town in central Haiti.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that the attack occurred on Thursday in Pont-Sonde, 100km (60 miles) northwest of Port-au-Prince.

The UN added that at least 16 people were seriously injured in the attack, including two gang members who were hit during an exchange of gunfire with Haitian police.

The office said gang members also reportedly set fire to at least 45 homes and 34 cars.

“Members of the Gran Grif gang used automatic rifles to shoot at the population, killing at least 70 people, among them about 10 women and three infants,” UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement, adding that the agency was “horrified” by the attack.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attack, his spokesperson said on Friday.

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille denounced the attack on X, saying an “odious crime against defenceless women, men and children is not only an attack against victims but against the entire Haitian nation”.

“To those who sow terror, I say this: you will not break our resolve. You will not subdue this people who have always fought for their dignity and freedom. We will never give up our right to live in peace, in security, and in justice,” Conille said.

‘Senseless’ violence

The prime minister’s office said on Friday that additional security forces, supported by the Kenyan-led international policing mission, had been deployed overnight to deal with the attack.

However, Gran Grif’s leader, Luckson Elan, whom the UN has sanctioned, blamed the government and victims of the attack for remaining passive as gang members were killed.

“It’s Pont-Sonde residents who are at fault. What happened in Pont-Sonde is the fault of the state,” he said in an audio message posted on social media.

While the motive for the attack is unclear, attacks of that kind have taken place in the capital, 80 percent of which is controlled by gangs, and they are typically linked to turf wars.

But Pont-Sonde is considered part of Gran Grif’s territory. The area is a major rice producer located in Haiti’s Artibonite region.

Artibonite has experienced some of Haiti’s worst violence outside Port-au-Prince, worsening hunger in a country where half the population suffers from severe food shortages.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said that so far this year, more than 3,661 people have been killed in “senseless” gang violence in the country.

The conflict has also displaced at least 700,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration.