Key facts
- Four bodies were handed to El Salvadoran forces in Haiti.
- President Nayib Bukele stated the bodies were not those of missing Salvadoran hostages.
- One body was identified as a child's.
- Another body wore a uniform from a non-Salvadoran army.
- The missing men were part of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force.
- The men vanished after an ambush by armed criminal groups.
Four bodies delivered to El Salvadoran special forces in Haiti are not those of the missing Salvadoran hostages, according to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. The remains were handed over by a non-governmental organization, with Bukele stating that one corpse was a child's and another wore a foreign army uniform. The four men, part of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, disappeared after being ambushed by armed criminal groups while traveling in an armored vehicle. Bukele had dispatched a military contingent to Haiti to recover the hostages, but the mission was hampered by fighting in the area. Earlier reports, including one from The New York Times citing sources close to the mission, had suggested the bodies found on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince belonged to the missing men.