Haiti declared a state of emergency late Sunday after two massive prison breaks saw nearly 3,600 inmates escape and gangs run riot in the capital.

The violent clashes also disrupted the communications network and came as a major gang leader seeks to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

To restore order, the government has imposed with immediate effect a curfew throughout the West territory for a "renewable period of 72 hours," a statement said.

"Between six in the evening and five in the morning on Monday 4, Tuesday 5, Wednesday 6 and this Sunday, March 3, 2024," the curfew will apply.

Law enforcement, firefighters, ambulance drivers, health personnel and duly identified journalists would not have to comply with the curfew, the statement added.

The emergency decree follows a dramatic escalation in violence over the weekend that has paralyzed parts of the capital, damaged communications and led to two prison breaks, including one at the country's largest prison.

About a dozen people died as gang members attacked the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince overnight Saturday into Sunday, an AFP reporter observed.

The attack came as part of a new spate of extreme violence in the Haitian capital, where well-armed gangs who control much of the city have wreaked havoc since Thursday.

The gangs say they want to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has led the crisis-wracked Caribbean nation since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

Only around 100 of the National Penitentiary's estimated 3,800 inmates were still inside the facility Sunday after the gang assault, Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights said.

"We counted many prisoners' bodies," he added.

Many dead

An AFP reporter who visited the prison on Sunday observed around a dozen bodies outside it and hardly anyone inside. Some bodies had wounds from bullets or other projectiles.

In its statement late Sunday, the Haitian government said security forces had "received orders to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and detain those who violate it."

It said the objective was to allow the government to "re-establish order and take the appropriate measures to take back control of the situation."

Economy Minister Patrick Michel Boisvert signed the statement as the country's acting prime minister.

Prime Minister Henry was in Kenya last week to sign an agreement to deploy police from the East African country to lead a U.N.-backed law and order mission to the gang-plagued nation.

Haiti's government is notoriously weak – kidnapping and other violent crime is rampant and gangs are described as much better armed than the police themselves.

Gang members also attacked a second prison called Croix des Bouquets, police said earlier.

Known gang leaders and people charged in the assassination of Moise were among those incarcerated in the main prison, located a few hundred meters from the National Palace, the Haitian daily Le Nouvelliste said.

The prison had been "spied on by the assailants since Thursday via drones," before it was attacked early Saturday evening, according to Le Nouvelliste.

Esperance said it was not immediately clear how many inmates escaped from the second prison, which he said held 1,450 inmates.