The assailants disguised as American agents broke into the home of the country's president and assassinated him

New Delhi, July 8, 2021

The Caribbean nation of Haiti's President Jovenal Moss was assassinated in his home on Wednesday.

According to police, four of the assailants were killed by security forces and two others have been arrested. The rest of the assailants will also be arrested soon.

Moses, 53, was at his home in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Wednesday when assailants broke into his home at noon.

Police said four assailants were killed in the retaliatory firing. Three police personnel were taken hostage during the attack. They were also rescued. Police intercepted the assailants as they were fleeing the president's house.

Moss became the country's president in 2017. There have been recent protests demanding his resignation. Political instability and gang war are common in Haiti, as well as natural disasters that have pushed the country into poverty.

A state of emergency has been declared in the country following the assassination of the president. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said the attackers were foreigners and spoke English and Spanish. Some media reports said the attackers were pretending to be American agents. An official statement has not been released.

However, the US ambassador to Haiti clarified that the US had no hand in the attack.