Drone strike in Haiti kills 8 children at a birthday party

Eleven civilians, including eight children, were killed Saturday in Haiti’s capital when drones aimed at a gang leader struck a birthday party where community members had gathered, a human rights group said.

In March, authorities in Haiti hired foreign military contractors to operate armed drones to target gangs that terrorize the capital, Port-au-Prince. The contractors work for a company owned by Erik Prince, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump.

Experts have warned that the strikes were not only a violation of international law, because there is no officially declared armed conflict in the country, but also bound to inflict collateral damage in densely populated urban areas where gang members operate.

While two police officers were accidentally killed by a drone last month and two civilian adults died in drone strikes in June, Saturday’s episode was believed to be the first time children were among the victims.

Two “kamikaze” drones were deployed Saturday evening in Simon Pelé, a gang-controlled area in Cité Soleil, a large, impoverished neighborhood near Port-au-Prince’s airport, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network.

The target was Albert Steevenson, a gang leader also known as Djouma, who was celebrating his birthday and distributing gifts to children, the human rights group said. Steevenson escaped unscathed.

The first drone killed eight children, ages 2 to 10, and three adults. Six more children were injured, the human rights group said. All of them were civilians.

A second drone fell near the gang’s headquarters, killing four gang members and injuring seven others, said Pierre Espérance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network.

A pregnant woman was among the dead, according to a person familiar with the case.

Jimmy Chérizier, a gang leader known as Barbecue, blamed the errant drone strike on the administration of Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, the prime minister who hired the contractors to take on gangs. He denied reports that gang members had been killed, saying only civilians had died.

A Haitian National Police spokesperson declined to comment. Fils-Aimé’s office also declined to comment, citing an active investigation. A spokesperson for the presidential council did not respond to a request for more information.

Prince, the U.S. military defense contractor, did not respond to requests for comment. It was unclear whether his contractors or the Haitian police were responsible for Saturday’s attack.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.