The authorities say several gang members have been killed in the Lower Delmas area of the capital Port-au-Prince.

Local reports say military drones carrying explosives are being used in the operation.

Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé praised the assault. He said it was the work of a special task force created two days ago to tackle insecurity.

Chérizier, aged 47, is the feared leader of Viv Ansam (Live Together), a coalition of gangs that control much of the city.

It is not clear whether Kenyan police officers deployed in Haiti last year to help fight the gangs are involved in the security operation.

Last week, a Kenyan police officer – who was on patrol with the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission – was killed in a confrontation with gang members.

Gang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order, the collapse of health services and emergence of a food security crisis.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in the Caribbean nation in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council, the body created to re-establish democratic order, has made little progress towards organising long-delayed elections.

The officer is the first casualty suffered by the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission (MSS).

The force was sent to Haiti in June last year to help restore order to the country, where gangs have seized control of almost the entire capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as large swathes of rural areas.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in Haiti in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.

The commander of the multinational force, Gen Godfrey Otunge, said the Kenyan police officer had been injured in Artibonite, a region north of the capital.

Gen Otunge said the officer, who has not been named, had been immediately airlifted to hospital, where he died a short while later.

Jack Ombaka, the spokesman for the MSS, said in a statement sent to Reuters news agency that the officer was a “fallen hero” who “was killed while fighting for the people of Haiti”, while Kenya’s foreign ministry said it was “heartbroken by the loss” of the officer.

Mr Ombaka said the officer had been shot by a gang member during a security operation in the town of Pont-Sondé.

He added that the multinational force would “pursue these gangs to the last man standing”.

The MSS was boosted earlier this month by the arrival of an additional 200 Kenyan police officers, but the force is outgunned and outmanned by the gangs, which continue to arm themselves with powerful weapons illegally smuggled from the US.

The future of the multinational force – which also has officers from Bahamas, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Jamaica among its ranks – was thrown into doubt some weeks ago when the Trump administration ordered a freeze on foreign aid programmes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later approved a waiver for US funds destined for the MSS and Haiti’s National Police, but it is not yet clear whether the US government supports turning the MSS into a UN peacekeeping operation, which would make its funding more secure.

The Caribbean island has been in the grip of violent gangs for several years who have been treating the population with unrelenting brutality, Unicef said.

Sexual violence against children has increased 1,000% since 2023, turning their bodies “into battlegrounds”, spokesman James Elder said.

Unicef estimates 85% of the capital Port-au-Prince is under the control of gangs. More than one million children are living with the constant threat of violence.

Mr Elder gave an example of a 16-year-old girl who had left home to go shopping, and then was seized by armed men. She was beaten, drugged, and repeatedly raped.

She was held for around one month, he said, until the gang let her go when they realised her family had no money to pay a ransom. Kidnappings for extortion are common in Haiti.

She is now in a UN shelter with dozens of other girls receiving care.

Gang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order, the collapse of health services and emergence of a food security crisis.

More than 5,600 people were killed in gang violence in Haiti last year alone.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council, the body created to organise elections and re-establish democratic order, appears to be in turmoil.

The council replaced the interim prime minister in November but has made little progress towards organising long-delayed elections.

Children are also being recruited by the gangs, sometimes forcibly, Unicef said.

The organisation has come across child gang members who are as young as eight.

The basics that Haitian children need for a normal childhood, even if they are still at home with their families, are virtually non-existent said Unicef. Schools and hospitals are barely functioning and tens of thousands of children are not in school.

Unicef has created mobile safe spaces in Haiti to try to support children, and to prevent sexual violence.

But last year, when it appealed for $221.4m (£177.8m) to fund its work in Haiti, it received just a quarter of that.

It’s feared now that with the US freeze on foreign aid affecting humanitarian projects worldwide, Haiti’s needs will be neglected again.