Headquarters of Haitian gang destroyed, El Salvador's president says

What the report says

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said his military destroyed the headquarters of Haiti’s 400 Mawozo gang in an operation on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. According to the BBC’s report, the attack involved ground and air action and was carried out with support from Haiti’s National Police drone unit. The gang is widely associated with kidnappings, extortion, murder and arms trafficking, and is considered one of Haiti’s biggest criminal groups.

The reported strike is El Salvador’s first military action against a Haitian target since it sent more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti last month. Bukele said the deployment was part of efforts to help rescue four Salvadoran technicians who were kidnapped in October while food shopping. The BBC noted that the president posted video on X showing helicopters firing on a compound that he said belonged to the gang, but the broadcaster said it could not independently verify the footage or confirm whether the site was fully destroyed.

There has been no official confirmation of casualties or the scale of the damage, and some reports suggested the gang leader was not present. Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé publicly thanked the Salvadoran military and said both countries would keep working with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force to restore state authority. The operation comes amid continuing concern from rights groups and questions about whether Salvadoran troops are acting within the force’s command structure.