The death toll in a gang attack on a small Haitian town rises to 115, a local official says

PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti – The death toll from a brutal gang attack last week in a small town in central Haiti has risen to 115, a local official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The attack on residents of Pont-Sondé on October 3 was one of the largest massacres Haiti has seen in recent history.

Myriam Fièvre, mayor of the nearby town of Saint-Marc, said on Wednesday that the number of victims had risen to 115 and was likely to rise further as authorities were still searching for bodies and were unable to enter certain areas of the city.

“We are committed to ensuring that the population is protected,” she said in a telephone interview.

The UN had previously said at least 70 people were killed last Thursday after the Gran Grif gang entered the town in the central Artibonite region.

More than 6,200 survivors have fled the city and temporarily settled in the coastal town of Saint-Marc, where they are sleeping on the floors of a church, a school and a public square.

A local human rights group said Gran Grif was angry that a self-defense group had tried to restrict gang activity in Pont-Sondé and prevent them from benefiting from a temporary road toll it recently set up nearby.

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Sanon reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti