PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The mayor of a commune in southern Haiti appealed for central government help on Tuesday after a gang attack left seven people dead.

A police station in Seguin, in the commune of Marigot, was also set on fire in the incident overnight on Monday as armed men expand their reach into new territory.

Marigot Mayor René Danneau criticized the authorities for not responding quickly enough.

“We are asking the prime minister to take all necessary measures,” he told Radiotélévision Caraïbes.

Danneau said the victims were young men who worked alongside police and gathered information for them to help protect the population.

Gang violence has largely been centered in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in rural territory north of it.

It was not immediately clear which gang was responsible for the attack on the community of Seguin.

More than 5,500 people were reported killed across Haiti between March 2025 and January this year, with more than 2,600 injured, according to the latest U.N. statistics. Gang violence also has displaced more than 1.4 million people in a country of nearly 12 million.