Kenyan police officer killed after ambush

A Kenyan police officer deployed in Haiti as part of the international security force has been killed after an attack by suspected gang members, the country’s transitional council says, after he was initially reported missing.

“This valiant policeman, committed to the side of the Haitian forces to fight against insecurity, has made the ultimate sacrifice for a better future,” read a statement from Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council (CPT).

The officer was identified as Benedict Kabiru. His mother spoke to local media, saying she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“I am a single mother. He was my only hope,” she said.

The CPT statement did not disclose whether the officer’s body had been retrieved.

The Kenyan authorities confirmed the officer was missing but are yet to comment on his reported killing.

There has been widespread opposition in Kenya to the deployment of police officers to Haiti to quell the violence in the gang-run Latin American country.

People have called on the officers to be returned home due to the dangers they face.

But in a phone call on Tuesday evening, President William Ruto and US State Secretary Marc Rubio reaffirmed their commitment to the mission.

The US is one of the main funders of the Kenya-led mission to help Haiti tackle its gang problem.

The CPT said those responsible were “either armed criminals or accomplices”, and that they would face justice.

It added that the authorities would continue to work with their national and international partners to “restore stability and build a Haiti where security and justice prevail”.

The attack happened on Tuesday during a patrol operation in the town of Pont-Sondé, the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission to Haiti said.

This is not the first Kenyan fatality among the roughly 800 police officers deployed to Haiti.

Last month, a 26-year-old police constable was fatally wounded during an operation in Ségur-Savien.

Samuel Tompoi Kaetuai’s body was flown back and he was laid to rest this month.

Kenya has deployed at least 800 police officers under the MSS mission to Haiti to help combat gangs.

The force was sent to Haiti in June last year to help restore order to the country, where gangs have seized control of almost the entire capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as many rural areas.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in Haiti in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.