PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti, Oct 9, (AP): Angry whispers have broken the heavy silence that fell over Pont-Sondé just days after a vicious gang attack left more than 70 dead, marking one of Haiti’s biggest massacres in recent history. The whispering came from a handful of people that remained in the small town in central Haiti after Thursday's assault.

They huddled by the roadside, stood under leafy trees or milled around the lone cemetery. All of them blamed the government for the assault by the Gran Grif gang, created after a former legislator armed young men nearly a decade ago to secure his election and control of the area. "I have to thank the government, because the gangs are killing people and kids cannot go to school,” said Lunoir Jean Chavanne, the town’s morgue driver.

He lost three relatives, including a 14-year-old boy and a beloved uncle who was a priest of the Vodou religion. Like others, Chavanne questioned why authorities didn’t do anything to stop the attack by Gran Grif, considered one of Haiti’s cruelest gangs. "They’ve been announcing that they were coming a number of times on social media,” he said.

Pont-Sondé was once a bustling community with a thriving marketplace located near the mighty Artibonite River, Haiti’s longest. It’s the same river that gang members used to their advantage the night of the attack, plying its rich brown waters with canoes so as not to alert anyone about their presence. They killed babies, older people and entire families.

Among the victims was the nephew of 58-year-old Elvens François, who was preparing to bury him on Tuesday. He recalled how he was carrying a plastic bag with his belongings as he prepared to flee his house when three men gripping automatic weapons surrounded him. One held François from the back while the other two gang members faced him. "They attacked me, cornered me and took everything from me,” he said, tears in his eyes. He doesn’t know why he was spared.