El Salvador sends troops to find soldiers missing in Haiti

El Salvador says it has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti in an operation to find four Salvadoran air force technicians who went missing almost two weeks ago. President Nayib Bukele told Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé about the deployment, El Salvador's foreign ministry said, adding that the troops would also support efforts against Haiti's gangs.

The four men were serving with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. Their armored vehicle was ambushed on Oct. 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets, a gang-controlled area near the capital, Port-au-Prince. No group has claimed responsibility, and tensions between the two countries have grown over the men's disappearance.

Haitian authorities handed over four bodies earlier this week, saying they were the missing servicemen, but Bukele said they did not match. He has threatened to take on Haiti's gangs the way he did in El Salvador if the men are not released.

Gangs control much of Port-au-Prince, and the UN says more than 5,700 people have been killed in gang violence in Haiti this year. The multinational force, whose powers the UN Security Council expanded last year, has struggled to push into gang-held areas. Haiti's gang crisis has worsened since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Reported troop numbers have varied, and this is a developing story.