Deadly Haiti Gang War Spreads to Nation's Capital Port-Au-Prince; Cathedral Caught Fire Amid Fight

The Haiti gang war has reached the capital of the country, Port-au-Prince, with gang members engaging in a gun battle with each other and with police.

BBC News reported that the city's temporary cathedral caught fire amid the fighting, with the death toll for the recent fighting not yet known. The groups involved in the current Haiti gang are the G9 criminal alliance and its rival gang G-Pep. The video showed police engaging with gang members not far from the presidential palace.

The United Nations suggested that more than 200 died between July 8 and July 17.

Port-au-Prince has witnessed gang violence for years. However, the gang fight between G9 and G-Pep has raised the violence to new levels.

G9 Alliance members launched an incursion into the Bel-Air neighborhood, where they were met with resistance from members of G-Pep.

One resident described Haiti's capital as "lawless."

Haiti Gang War Cathedral on Fire

Government Commissioner Jacques Lafontant said in an Associated Press News report that police are trying to stabilize the area as intense fighting erupted blocks from the government's National Palace and Haiti's National Penitentiary.

Men identifying themselves as G9 members filmed a man they supposedly killed amid the fighting and laid several firearms on his naked body, as shown in one social media post.

The State University of Haiti issued a statement on Wednesday announcing that it was forced to suspend classes. The university said several bullets have been recovered in the courtyard as well as in classrooms in less than a week.

A spokesman for the Port-au-Prince archdiocese, Father Marc Henry Siméon, said that firefighters had managed to put out the fire at the church, which has been used as the city's cathedral since the Notre-Dame cathedral was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake.

Fr. Siméon said that he did not know whether the church was targeted deliberately or had become "collateral damage." However, he stressed that "bandits" were operating in the area "with total impunity."

Meanwhile, bullet casings were found in classrooms at the university's science faculty.

Haiti Gang War Death Toll

The U.N. reported that the Haiti gang war has killed, injured, or caused 471 people to go missing, adding that there are "serious incidents of sexual violence" against women and girls reported within these gangs.

Meanwhile, about 3,000 residents of Cite-Soleil had to flee their homes, including hundreds of unaccompanied children, according to News 84 Media report.

Access to healthcare is also limited or non-existent. Many health centers have closed or limited their services in the area. Food and water access are also limited.

The United Nations Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, urged all parties to maintain an open humanitarian corridor towards Citi-Soleil to end deadly violence.

Meanwhile, the prime minister, Ariel Henry, has yet to speak out over the outbreak of violence that started in early July.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Fierce gang wars intensify in Haiti - from Associated Press