HAITI'S PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED

President Jovenel Moise was assassinated during an attack on his home in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Port-au-Prince. The attackers, believed to be mercenaries, stormed Moise's private residence around 01:00 and fatally shot him.

The first lady, Martine Moise, was also shot in the attack, but she has survived. She was transported to Jackson Health System's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.

Moise, 53, a former banana exporter, was a divisive figure in Haitian politics. He spent most of the past year waging a political war with the opposition over the terms of the presidency, reports CNN.

According to the opposition party, Moise's five-year term as the head of the state is over because it started the day he was elected President. Moise has been fighting that statement for the last year, as he says it was only a year after being elected that he was allowed to start his work as the President.

Since the assassination, Haitian police killed four "mercenaries" they said were behind the assassination. They've taken two more into custody as the impoverished and crisis-hit Caribbean nation was pitched into uncertainty, reports IOL.

The city of Port-au-Prince's airport was closed immediately after the assassination, and it's been reported that it will only open once the assassination has been resolved.

Watch the CNN video below for more on the assassination of President Jovenel Moise of Haiti.

Image credit: CNN