# Drone attack kills children in Haiti slum as outrage grows over accountability
Explosive drones targeting a suspected gang leader in Haiti killed at least eight children and seriously wounded six others in Cité Soleil, according to relatives, activists and human rights groups. The attack has sharpened anger in Port-au-Prince over the growing use of drone tactics and the absence of a clear public explanation from authorities.
The strike happened Saturday night in Simon Pelé, a neighborhood within the gang-controlled waterfront district of Cité Soleil. Residents and rights groups said the drones detonated as suspected gang leader Albert Steevenson, known as Djouma, was preparing to celebrate his birthday and was handing out gifts to children. Relatives told reporters that some of the victims were struck inside their homes or in the street as explosions tore through the area.
The reported toll is broader than the children’s deaths alone. At least 13 people were killed overall, according to residents, including civilians and suspected gang members. Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network said three civilians and four suspected gang members were among the dead, with other gunmen injured. Among those killed was a 33-year-old moto taxi driver whose family said he had simply been returning from work.
The attack has become politically sensitive because of the way it appears to have been carried out. The human rights group accused police of launching two explosive drones in the community. A new task force created earlier this year has operated outside the direct oversight of Haiti’s national police and has used explosive drones, according to the AP report. That has led to difficult questions about command responsibility, transparency and civilian harm.
Those questions matter in a country where gangs control most of the capital and where violence often moves faster than state institutions can respond. Haiti’s police spokesman did not immediately comment, and the office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé also did not respond when asked. Human rights observers said the lack of an official accounting only deepens distrust.
The strike also arrives amid a broader security strategy that includes foreign contractors and a U.N.-backed police mission. The mission remains far below its intended size and short of funding. At the same time, Vectus Global, the security firm founded by former U.S. Navy SEAL Erik Prince, expects to deploy personnel to Haiti as part of a one-year anti-gang deal.
For many Haitians, the immediate issue is not the policy debate but the civilian cost. Families described children with catastrophic injuries, parents losing sons, and neighborhoods thrown into panic. The reports from Cité Soleil suggest that if the government intended to show force, it instead exposed one of the sharpest dilemmas in Haiti’s security fight: how to confront armed groups without turning already devastated civilian districts into the battlefield.
