Explainer | What’s happening in Haiti where the President was assassinated?

Most Haitians, including its leaders, are still in shock and the crisis has just started unfolding in the country.

The story so far: Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s 53-year-old President, was in Port-au-Prince early on Wednesday by unidentified gunmen, pushing the Caribbean nation, already battered by months-long protests, economic miseries and the COVID-19 outbreak, into further chaos. On Thursday, the country’s police chief said . Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Joseph Claude Joseph announced on Thursday that Moïse was assassinated at his home and the First Lady Martine Moïse was injured. He said some of the attackers spoke Spanish, indicating that foreign mercenaries were involved. Haiti is a French- and Creole-speaking country. Mr. Joseph has not offered any more details. According to local media, Moise’s body had been riddled with 12 bullets. Police chief Leon Charles said four suspects had been killed and the police were chasing others. “They will be killed or captured,” he said on Thursday, but has not disclosed the identity of the suspects nor has he offered any evidence linking them to the plot. It still remains a mystery how the attackers, whoever they were, walked to a presidential residence, shot him dead and then walked out freely.