Sossal Kamis Alhadj was wounded but remains alive, AyiboPost has learned.
The Gang Suppression Force (GSF) has received human remains that it is currently working to identify in order to determine whether they belong to four of its soldiers who have been missing since last Sunday, AyiboPost has learned. The identification process will notably involve dental records and will take time because of the condition of the remains received from a local humanitarian organization.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, stated on X on Saturday that the remains delivered do not belong to his four aerotechnicians. According to Bukele, they correspond to “a child, a man of considerably larger stature than our aerotechnicians, and a person who was wearing part of a military uniform from an army that is not ours.”
“Among the remains, identification documents and military uniforms from other countries were also found,” the president continued in his post, which was accompanied by the identification photo of Sossal Kamis Alhadj, a Chadian member of the GSF.
Alhadj is not dead, AyiboPost has learned. The soldier was, however, wounded during operations carried out this week. It is unclear why the Salvadoran president disclosed his identifiable personal information, which was probably recovered from the operational area.
The four Salvadorans disappeared in Santo last Sunday after stopping to buy food at a supermarket. A source familiar with the events maintains that they were not on an official mission. According to that source, they likely lost their way and found themselves without support in the heart of territory controlled by armed gangs.
AyiboPost contacted another source familiar with the events in Croix-des-Bouquets, the stronghold of the Chen Mechan gang, which has been accused of launching the assault against the foreigners.
According to that source, the white Toyota sport utility vehicle caught fire and the Salvadorans, technicians who were members of the “Liberty II Task Force,” died. The source says they were burned to death on site during exchanges of gunfire with local gang members who were fighting reinforcements sent to rescue the technicians.
According to the same source, the Salvadorans never exited their vehicle, contrary to the claims contained in a press release published by the Salvadoran armed forces last Monday. According to the source, they were burned inside the vehicle.
AyiboPost is not in a position to independently confirm this version of events. Operations to locate the GSF members are continuing, our news outlet has learned.
More than 200 members of El Salvador’s special forces arrived in Haiti this week to support the efforts of the Haitian National Police and the GSF’s more than 2,000 members, AyiboPost has learned.
For Romain Le Cour, who heads the Haiti Observatory within the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the crisis marks a turning point for the GSF, a force whose deployment remains incomplete despite authorization granted last year by the United Nations to increase its strength to 5,500 personnel.
According to Le Cour, the deployment process had until now followed a timetable largely dictated by logistical constraints and political negotiations. “The process was slow, but it was moving forward,” he summarizes.
The current crisis has nevertheless disrupted that trajectory. The GSF now finds itself in a reactive posture and facing what Romain Le Cour describes as a tactical trap.
In Santo, the force is now operating alongside the Task Force, a structure bringing together the National Police and the private military company Vectus Global, which notably conducts drone strikes. For Romain Le Cour, this overlap in responsibilities raises questions. “This confusion of roles raises issues of accountability and compliance with rules of engagement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the security crisis continues to worsen in Haiti. At least 5,700 people had been killed or wounded by gangs or during operations against them this year through September 11, according to a report released this month by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. More than 230 people were kidnapped, and more than 1,000 women were victims of sexual violence.
Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on October 2, Volker Türk nevertheless stressed that the real toll was probably much higher.
In this context, Dominican President Luis Abinader said on Saturday that he had spoken with his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, about logistical cooperation and intelligence-sharing related to operations against criminal groups in Haiti. In a post on X, he stated that Dominican authorities were maintaining constant monitoring of developments in the country, reiterating that his priority remained securing the border and protecting the Dominican population.
In its press release published Monday, the Salvadoran armed forces state that the four aerotechnicians were the victims of an ambush set by heavily armed criminal groups while returning to their camp in an armored vehicle. The military says the attackers used firearms and explosives, causing intense fighting and setting the vehicle ablaze. According to this version of events, the four soldiers nevertheless managed to exit the armored vehicle before reinforcements arrived.
The statement adds that Salvadoran military helicopters were deployed to support the operation and repel the armed groups. The aircraft themselves reportedly came under fire and sustained bullet impacts during the mission.
Three days after the Salvadorans disappeared, El Salvador’s president, Bukele, announced the launch of a military operation aimed at finding them.
“We have only one objective: to bring our four compatriots home alive and safe,” Bukele said, while issuing a warning to the armed groups he held responsible for their abduction. “Today’s attack is nothing compared to what will happen if you do not return the four hostages alive,” he added, asserting that Salvadoran authorities were prepared to intensify their response.
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