Gunmen carried out an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry during an event on Saturday celebrating the Caribbean country’s 218th independence anniversary, his office said in a statement on Monday night.

The statement said that “bandits and terrorists” had tried to shoot the PM at a church in the northern city of Gonaïves where the said ceremony was taking place.

Mr. Henry and his entourage can be seen in video footage circulated on social media scrambling toward their vehicles as an armed group began shooting outside the cathedral in Gonaïves.

The police, who said the attack was the work of “armed groups”, were unable to immediately confirm casualties. Later, Haitian media reported 1 killing and two injuries.

The reported assassination attempt over the weekend has increased concerns over the safety of officials in Haiti since the assassination of Haiti President Joevenl Moïse.

Ariel Henry was sworn in as Prime Minister barely two weeks after Moïse’s killing at the hands of suspected mercenaries. The country has yet to set a date to elect Moise’s successor.

Haiti interim PM Claude Joseph announced the assassination of the President of Haiti Jovenel Moise in his private residence on July 7, 2021. 

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In a statement, Joseph said, "A group of unidentified individuals attacked the private residence of Moise overnight on Wednesday and shot him dead." The first lady was injured in the attack and was rushed to the hospital, according to Reuters.

4 suspects are freed

According to media reports, a Haitian court temporarily freed four police officers suspected of involvement in the assassination of the country's former President Jovenel Moise.

According to Haiti24, the four suspects – Jacques Sincere, Ciceron Cedernier, Eddy Amazan, and Willer Cange – were released on Monday by Garry Aurelien, the judge overseeing the case. The reason for the decision is unknown.

The four were detained alongside 18 Colombians and five Americans in the case of Moise's murder, which occurred on July 7, 2021, at his residence.

10 prisoners killed

Ten prisoners and a policeman were killed in Haiti during an attempt to escape from a prison in the suburb of Port-au-Prince, police said Monday evening.

“The death toll is 11, including a policeman,” police spokesman GIG DeRozier told AFP, noting that there were also “three policemen who were seriously injured and whose health requires evacuation to Cuba.”

The spokesman explained that the escape attempt took place in Croix de Bouquet prison, on Friday afternoon, when an unspecified number of prisoners in possession of firearms took "three policemen and a nurse" hostage while trying to escape from this prison, which is the second-largest prison in the country.

He also added that "the prisoners were able while advancing inside the high-security prison, to seize three additional weapons, including a submachine gun."

"Following the incident, a policeman was arrested on suspicion of his involvement in the smuggling of weapons to the prison," the spokesman pointed out, noting that "the investigation into the circumstances of this case is continuing."