Two telecommunication companies in Haiti said their fiber optic cables were severed this week, temporarily leaving customers without service in what were suspected acts of sabotage by criminal gangs.

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Digicel Haiti, one of Haiti's biggest telecom companies, said one of its cables was cut on Thursday in the community of Martissant near the capital of Port-au-Prince, considered ground zero for warring gangs. The cable affects customers in Haiti's western region, and it also had been severed earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Access Haiti said some its fiber optic cables were cut on Monday in what it described as an act of "sabotage."

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The two companies, when contacted by The Associated Press, declined to say how many of their customers were affected.

Gangs have grown increasingly powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, prompting Haiti to request the deployment of an international armed force to restore order.