A Kenyan police officer was shot and killed in Haiti on Sunday in an operation that was part of the international effort to help combat gang violence and restore order to the Caribbean nation, officials said.

It appears to be the first death of a Kenyan officer working as part of the Multinational Security Support Mission, the international contingent that has been deployed in the Caribbean nation since June. The force is made of mostly Kenyan officers.

While on patrol, “the security team came under fire from suspected gang members,” according to a statement posted on social media by Kenya’s national police service. “The officer sustained gunshot wounds and was rushed to hospital where he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries.”

The shooting happened in Haiti’s Artibonite region, north of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the officer, who was not identified, was airlifted to a hospital, the Multinational Security Support Mission said in a statement on social media.

The principal secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korir Sing’Oei, said he was “heartbroken by the loss.”

Hundreds of Kenyan police officers have been stationed in Haiti since June as part of a U.S.-sponsored mission to restore order. Since 2022, Haiti’s prime minister had appealed for a foreign armed intervention to help stop the rampant gang violence that has upended the nation.

The Multinational Security Support Mission, which also includes officers from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador, was deployed to Haiti to try to wrest control of Port-au-Prince from well-armed and highly organized Haitian gangs that had seized control of much of the capital.