The President of Haiti Jovenel Moise has been assassinated at his private residence, according to the country's interim prime minister Claude Joseph.
He was assassinated in front of his wife, First Lady Martine Moïse, who was hospitalised after the attack.
A group of unidentified individuals attacked the property at around 1am, and the president was shot dead, according to a statement early on Wednesday.
Joseph said in a statement: "Around one o’clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6th to Wednesday 7th of July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state."
Moise had been ruling Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections were delayed in 2018, following disputes on when his term would end.
Who was Jovenel Moise?
Jovenel Moise, 53, was the President of Haiti from 2017 until his assassination on July 7 2021.
He was born in Trou du Nord, Nord-Est, Haiti and married Martine Marie Etienne Joseph in 1996.
Moise was a little-known businessman prior to the election, and was reportedly nicknamed "banana man" during his campaign.
He got this name after setting up a banana plantation in North Haiti, as well as founded the public-private project Agritrans, which helped export bananas to Europe.
Why was Jovenel Moise assassinated?
Haiti's President was assassinated by a group of unidentified people.
The attack happened amid a rising wave of politically linked violence in Haiti.
The impoverished Caribbean nation is politically divided, and faces a growing humanitarian crisis and shortages of foods, leading to fears of widespread disorder.
Moise took over office in 2017, and has faced fierce protest ever since, with street violence and a rise in gang violence.
At the centre of the crisis is the question of when Moise's presidential term was due to end.
The opposition accused him of seeking to install a dictatorship by overstaying his mandate this year.
They claim Moise should have stepped down on February 7 this year after failing to hold elections the year before.
He has since ruled by decree, and the opposition allege he violated the country's 1987 constitution.
However, Moise and his supporters denied these accusations, saying he only took power in 2017 after winning the re-run.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "We're trying to find a solution to this crisis. I'm not the first president to rule by decree. And I'm confident that the answer is around the corner; then the legislature will be put in place to play its role."
Mr Moise claimed back in February 2021 that a previous attempt on his life was prevented by police.
He said during a national address: "There was an attempt on my life.
"I thank my head of security at the palace. The goal of these people was to make an attempt on my life. That plan was aborted."
The assassination of the President is likely to plunge the nation into further turmoil.
Joseph condemned the attack, which he described as a "hateful, inhumane and barbaric act".
He sought to reassure Haitians, and said the security situation in the country remained calm.
