El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said Wednesday, Oct. 22, that a military operation had been launched to recover four Salvadoran aviation technicians kidnapped by gangs in Haiti, warning that a larger response could follow if they are not returned alive and unharmed. The four went missing after fleeing an armored vehicle set ablaze in an attack Sunday in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, near Port-au-Prince. The assault came three days after the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force began operating in the violence-wracked country, and was described as its first major attack since that deployment. Bukele demanded the hostages’ safe release, saying on X that Sunday’s attack would be “nothing compared to what is coming” if the men were not freed. He posted video showing armored vehicles with shattered windows moving through smoke. It was not clear whether the operation he announced would be carried out by Salvadoran, Haitian or international security forces. Haiti’s government said Wednesday evening that the technicians’ abduction was an “absolute priority” and that authorities were mobilizing resources in coordination with the Gang Suppression Force. Officials did not confirm whether they had evidence the four were alive. A spokesperson for the force did not immediately provide details. Bukele said El Salvador’s mission in Haiti consists of pilots and technical staff whose primary role is medical evacuation, not combat. However, El Salvador passed a law in early October extending its armed forces’ participation in the multinational force for a year and authorizing the deployment of civilian and military personnel according to mission needs. More than 2,000 troops from countries including El Salvador, Chad, Jamaica and Guatemala are serving in the force. The U.N. Security Council extended its authorization through March 2027. The mission is confronting gangs that control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince, while Haiti prepares for its first general election in more than a decade. The United Nations estimates gang violence has displaced nearly 1.5 million people in Haiti in recent years. From January through mid-September, more than 5,700 people were killed or injured and more than 230 were kidnapped, according to the U.N. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack on the Salvadoran vehicle.