El Salvador launches a military operation to rescue four soldiers abducted by gangs in Haiti

22 October 2026

El Salvador has initiated a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran soldiers abducted by gangs in Haiti, President Nayib Bukele announced in a post on X on October 21, 2026. Bukele warned that a more forceful response was coming if the personnel were not released alive and well, writing that El Salvador had already finished with the gangs at home and could do the same elsewhere. The four men are aviation technicians with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force and have been missing since they fled a burning armoured vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets in Port-au-Prince. Gangs had opened fire on the vehicle three days earlier, in the first major attack since the international gang suppression force began operating in the Caribbean country last year. Haiti's government said on the evening of October 21 that the release of the abducted soldiers was an absolute priority.