Gunfire erupts outdoors US embassy as Marines hearth at gang members on war-torn island

Marines guarding the US Embassy in Haiti exchanged fire with gang members who have overrun the war-torn island’s capital.

The Marine Corps revealed the brief gun battle began on Thursday when the criminals shot at the soldiers, who immediately returned fire.

No embassy personnel were injured and there were no reports of any of the attackers being killed or seriously wounded before they retreated.

Such a brazen attack on the fortified compound in Port-au-Prince highlighted the tense security situation in the Caribbean nation.

Marines at the embassy have been shot at on other occasions this year, but the Corps said this was the fiercest exchange of fire.

Gangs control 90 percent of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, where they extort businesses and fight for territory, using heavy weaponry.

Marines guarding the US Embassy in Haiti (pictured) exchanged fire with gang members who have overrun the war-torn island’s capital

Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier is a former cop who now runs the country’s most powerful gang 

The streets of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince are littered with bodies after gangs took over 

The US continues to operate an embassy in Haiti, but in recent years the State Department issued numerous warnings telling Americans not to travel there, 

‘Crimes involving firearms are common in Haiti. They include robbery, carjackings, sexual assault, and kidnappings for ransom,’ the do not travel warning reads.

The United Nations estimates gang violence displaced more than 1.3 million Haitians from their homes in recent years.

Security in the nation of nearly 12 million people deteriorated rapidly since 2021, when President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in his home by mercenaries.

The president’s murder created a power vacuum that politicians in the nation struggled to fill, and no elections have been held to replace Moise.

The United Nations Security Council voted in late September, to create a gang suppression force of about 5,500 troops that will be deployed to Haiti to fight the nation’s heavily armed criminal groups.

A smaller force of police officers from Kenya has struggled to contain gangs, which killed 5,600 people last year.

Paramedics carry the body of a man who was killed by gang members in scenes witnesses say was reminiscent of a violent Hollywood movie 

Gangs control 90 percent of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, where they extort businesses and fight for territory, using heavy weaponry