Haitian President Jovenel Moise has been assassinated at home, according to the country’s interim prime minister.

A group of unidentified individuals attacked the private residence of Mr Moise, 53, overnight and shot him dead, Claude Joseph said in a statement.

The first lady Martine Moise is in hospital following the attack late on Tuesday, interim Premier Claude Joseph said.

Mr Joseph called the killing a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” adding that Haiti’s National Police and other authorities had the situation in Haiti under control.

The impoverished Caribbean country had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under Mr Moise’s rule, bringing an eruption of violent protests, kidnappings and organised crime.

In recent months, opposition leaders demanded he step down, arguing that his term legally ended in February.

But Mr Moise and his supporters maintained that his term began when he took office in early 2017, since an interim government ran the country for a year after his election victory in 2016.

Meanwhile, gang violence has surged heavily in the capital of Port-au-Prince, inflation has spiralled and food and fuel is has at times become scarce in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day.

The troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.

Haiti was scheduled to hold general elections later this year.

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