Port-au-Prince

Haiti's capital was largely shut down Monday with residents only venturing out for essentials as authorities imposed a state of emergency after an attack on a prison freed thousands of inmates.

Haiti's government declared on Sunday a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew after at least a dozen people died when gang members attacked the capital city's main prison, allowing several thousand inmates to escape.

A deadly, days-long clash between armed gangs intensified Thursday in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, as elsewhere demonstrators marched demanding accountability for the Caribbean nation's spiraling security crisis.

An American nurse and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti, a Christian aid group said Saturday, days after the US government ordered its nonessential personnel out of the impoverished Caribbean country due to spiraling insecurity.

Alix Dorsainvil and her child were kidnapped Thursday morning near Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, El Roi Haiti said in a statement on its website.

The United Nations Security Council was evaluating options including the immediate activation of foreign troops to help free Haiti from the grip of gangs that has caused a scarcity of fuel, water and other basic supplies.

Five Turkish citizens who were kidnapped by a Haitian gang last month have been released, a source close to the case said on June 15.

Details on the circumstances of their release the day before were not available, but the men - aged between 20 and 26 - are in apparent good physical health, the source said.    

A group of 17 U.S. missionaries including children was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Oct. 16, according to a voice message sent to various religious missions by an organization with direct knowledge of the incident.

The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a message from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries.

Ljubljana – Slovenia will send aid to Haiti, which has recently been hit by a strong earthquake. The shipment of blankets and sleeping bags is worth EUR 140,000, including transport to the Caribbean country.

The decision to send aid through the EU civil protection mechanism was taken by the government at Thursday’s session, the Government Communication Office said in a press release.

Rescuers in Haiti used heavy equipment and their bare hands on Aug. 17 to hunt for survivors under buildings flattened two days ago by a massive earthquake that killed over 1,200 people, while an approaching storm threatened more suffering.

class='cf'>

The death toll from Haiti's powerful earthquake jumped to over 1,200 on Aug. 15, as crews desperately dug through collapsed buildings for survivors in the Caribbean nation still reeling from its president's assassination.

class='cf'>