An armed gang opened fire on an armored U.S. Embassy van in Port-au-Prince on Monday, wounding an employee, sources confirmed to the Miami Herald.

The employee, who works as a gardener in the embassy’s housing complex, was reportedly on his way to work with other employees. He was immediately transported to a medical facility where he was in stable condition.

The gang, armed with rifles powerful enough to pierce an armored vehicle, is believed to have attacked from an alleyway along a winding dirt road between the embassy and the housing compound that isn’t always visible even when security measures are taken.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed to the Herald late Monday that a Haitian contractor was injured when an armored vehicle was struck by gang gunfire.

“The Department of State and U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince have no higher priority than the safety of U.S. government personnel, including all embassy employees,” said the spokesperson, noting they do not comment “on the specific details of their security posture or related adjustments.”

“We continue to condemn the increased gang violence occurring across Port-au-Prince, including this attack,” the spokesman added.

This is the second time in three months that armed groups have targeted U.S. Embassy assets in the country. In October, gangs shot at two of the embassy’s armored vehicles, including one belonging to the chief of the mission. One of the vehicles had a window and its windshield shattered by the bullets. At the time, the U.S. ambassador said the attack, which didn’t injure anyone, was a reaction to a change in Haitian police’s anti-gang operations. After the attack, the embassy evacuated some of its non-essential diplomatic staff.

The ramped up attacks, however, are yet another indication of how bold Haiti’s deadly gangs have become despite the presence of an armed international force in the country. Since uniting last year in a powerful alliance, gangs have opened fire on three U.S. jetliners, shot at a U.N. helicopter, raided the two largest prisons and carried out several massacres. They’ve also looted and set fire to businesses, hospitals and police stations while repeatedly forcing the closure of the seaport and main airport.

The escalating violence, the United Nations said, led to the deaths of more than 5,600 people last year, including journalists, and has forced the displacement of more than 1 million people from their homes.

On Saturday, as a new contingent of 217 Kenyan police were arriving in Port-au-Prince to reinforce the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, human rights groups were receiving reports of another gang attack in the area of Gros Morne in the Artibonite region, north of the capital. A spokesman for the Haiti National Police did not respond to a request for comment, but two human rights sources confirmed to the Herald that they had received reports of several deaths and that police had intervened to stop the carnage.

Haiti’s deteriorating security situation has gone unnoticed. The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a meeting on Wednesday to receive an update on the situation in Haiti, where both the Kenya-led security mission and Haitian police have been struggling to combat gangs and restore peace. A U.N. assessment team recently visited the country to report back after the Council, late last year, agreed to have U.N. Secretary General António Guterres provide a report on what a U.N. peacekeeping operation would look like. Before leaving office, the Biden administration pushed for the Kenya-led security mission to be transformed into a formal U.N. operation, but it’s unclear whether President Donald Trump would support the move, which requires the support of Russia and China, both of which have veto power and so far have balked at the idea.

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