PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Armed gangs have swept through neighbourhoods north of Haiti’s capital, forcing more than 5,000 to leave their homes since Sunday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has for years been plagued by instability as powerful gangs carry out rampant killings, rapes, looting and kidnappings.

The security crisis worsened in early 2024, when gangs launched a wave of violence that forced the country’s unelected prime minister to resign.

“Homes were looted and set on fire and shops and school vandalised” in the spike of violence that erupted on May 10, rights campaigner Fritznel Pierre told local radio station Magik 9 on Wednesday.

“We’ve never seen so many gunshot victims in such a short period of time,” said Sarah Chateau, head of operations for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Haiti.

A medical centre and a Doctors Without Borders hospital suspended operations and evacuated staff as violence ravaged neighbourhoods.

A police source told AFP that officers had been deployed to secure the area.

“We’ve seen a huge number of people with gunshot wounds. The Fontaine Hospital evacuated its patients, due to its proximity to the clashes, and transferred them to us,” MSF’s Chateau told AFP.

“Every time we open the gates to admit new patients, there are members of the public rushing to come inside.”

Chateau said the hospital evacuation was “stressful”, as staff tried to protect patients from “stray bullets raining down”.

“We weren’t any safer inside. One of our security guards was hit by a stray bullet,” she said.

More than 40 people were treated for gunshot wounds in less than 12 hours, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations (UN) secretary-general, on Wednesday.

The UN humanitarian agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is preparing “a collective humanitarian response in a rapidly evolving and volatile security environment”, Haq said.

The United Nations approved a multinational security mission in 2023 to help overwhelmed Haitian police respond to gangs, but the under-equipped and underfunded deployment had mixed results.

Last year, the UN Security Council approved transforming the mission into a more robust anti-gang force.

A contingent of 400 soldiers from Chad has arrived in Port-au-Prince so far.

The latest outburst of violence follows clashes in the capital’s northern districts in March and April, which displaced nearly 8,000 people, according to the United Nations.