A Haitian police drone task force backed by Salvadoran soldiers has destroyed a house used by 400 Mawozo leader Wilson Joseph, killing several gunmen inside, days after the gang publicly sought peace talks.

The house was struck at about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, cited by Greater Belize. Joseph, known as Lanmò San Jou, was not in the house, which had been under surveillance. Two sources told the Miami Herald that as many as 20 of his gunmen were inside and were killed. Four helicopters gave air support, two flown by the task force and two by Salvadoran troops.

It was the second time the task force has destroyed a house linked to a gang leader. In January it blew up at least two homes belonging to Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue, who also was not home. The task force works out of the prime minister’s office and is supported by the private firm Vectus Global, founded by former Navy SEAL and Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

Peace talks request days earlier

The strike came two days after the gang told the Associated Press it had reached out to Haiti’s National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration in a push for “peace, stability and national reconciliation”. In a three-page statement, the gang said “dialogue is not a capitulation”, but an “act of patriotic responsibility to preserve human lives”, adding that “Haiti’s future cannot be built solely on confrontations and military operations”.

A gang spokesperson, speaking to the AP anonymously, said the gang is willing to negotiate, that disarmament is “a process”, and that it wants peace and an end to what it called “international interference”. The United Nations and rights groups accuse 400 Mawozo of rape, killing and kidnapping. The gang denies it.

The gang’s statement also raised concern over social media posts about Joseph’s home, including comments attributed to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. On Friday, Bukele wrote on X, in reply to a post that allegedly showed the house: “Where is that house? Give us the exact address, and we’ll destroy it.” El Salvador’s government declined to comment to the AP.

Salvadoran deployment outside UN mandate

The campaign has intensified since four Salvadoran aviation technicians serving with the UN-authorised Gang Suppression Force were ambushed on 18 October. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Bukele sent troops to Haiti in what he called a search-and-rescue mission. The AP puts the number at more than 2,000, and the Herald at about 2,500.

Amnesty International warned on Monday 9 November that the deployment raises serious questions. The organisation said the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, had clarified that the vast majority of Salvadoran military personnel recently deployed to Haiti are not part of the Gang Suppression Force, and therefore fall outside the mandate and monitoring mechanisms of the United Nations Support Office in Haiti.

“The Prime Minister of Haiti, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, must ensure that all operations conducted by Salvadoran forces in Haiti comply with international human rights law,” said Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas director. Amnesty also said the fate and whereabouts of the four Salvadoran personnel missing since 18 October must be established and, if they are being held by an armed gang, they must be released immediately and unharmed.

The United Nations reported that more than 5,700 people had been killed or injured in Haiti between January and mid-September 2026, while nearly 1.5 million people had been displaced by violence and insecurity. Whether the destruction of Joseph’s house pushes the gang towards talks or towards retaliation is now the open question in Port-au-Prince.