PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gangs launched a new attack on Haiti’s capital early Tuesday, targeting an upscale community in Port-au-Prince, where gunmen clashed with residents who fought side by side with police.

The Petionville attack was led by the Viv Ansanm group, whose spokesman Jimmy Chérizier, a gang leader and former elite police officer, announced the plan in a video posted on social media.

At least 28 suspected gang members were killed and hundreds of rounds of ammunition seized, according to Lionel Lazarre, deputy spokesman for the Haitian National Police.

It was not immediately clear whether police were preparing for the attack or trying to preemptively protect Petionville, as Chérizier, also known as Barbecue, had announced plans to attack him.

Unrest in Port-au-Prince deepened on Tuesday evening as Médecins Sans Frontières announced it was suspending critical care in the capital, accusing police officers of violence and threats against its staff, including rape and death. The aid group will stop admitting and transferring patients to the five medical facilities starting Wednesday, a blow to a country with severely limited medical care.

“We have been in Haiti for more than 30 years, and this decision is made with a heavy heart. Healthcare services have never been so limited for the people of Haiti,” said Christophe Garnier, head of mission in Haiti, in a statement.

MSF said one of its ambulances was attacked by police last week, killing at least two patients and injuring its staff. The aid group reported four other recent violent incidents in just one week, including one in which it accused an officer of saying police would start executing and burning staff, patients and ambulances.

Lazarre, the deputy police spokesman, did not return a message seeking comment.

The aid group’s decision comes as violence rises in the capital.

Witnesses told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday that residents were outraged by the latest gang attack on their community. They said some of the suspected gunmen were beheaded or had their legs cut off, while the bodies were piled up and set on fire.

The pre-dawn attack began when two trucks carrying suspected gang members entered Petionville. One of the trucks blocked the main entrance to the community.

Chérizier had threatened reprisals against the management and staff of any hotels in the area where politicians or “oligarchs” might have taken refuge. He also called for the resignation of Haiti’s transitional presidential council and said the coalition would use “all its forces” against it.

Gunmen also attacked the neighboring community of Canape Vert and other areas. Local resident Richard Derosier said he heard gunfire and saw a man running around carrying a large machine gun.

“I asked God, ‘Are you going to let them save my life?'” Derosier recalled.

The attack comes days after gang violence forced Haiti’s main international airport to close for the second time this year as the country swore in a new prime minister following internal political infighting.

On November 11, gunmen opened fire on a Spirit Airlines plane as it was preparing to land, injuring a flight attendant. The shooting prompted the airport to close and several airlines to temporarily cancel flights to Port-au-Prince. However, the UN said it expected to resume aid flights to Haiti on Wednesday.

Gang violence has forced more than 20,000 people to flee Port-au-Prince in recent days, according to the UN. They join the more than 700,000 people left homeless in recent years of violence.

Viv Ansanm is also responsible for a series of coordinated attacks that began in late February targeting key government infrastructure. Gunmen attacked police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, forcing it to close for nearly three months, and raided Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

The gangs control 85 percent of the capital and in recent weeks have launched attacks in previously peaceful communities to try to gain control of even more territory.

The attacks have escalated since police officers from Kenya, who are leading a UN-backed mission to quell the violence in Haiti, arrived in late June. On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said through his spokesman that he was “alarmed by the escalation of violence” as he called for financial and logistical support for the mission.

The US government has been pushing for a UN peacekeeping force to replace the Kenyan-led mission because it lacks funds and personnel.

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