Haiti declares state of emergency after double jailbreak allows thousands of inmates to escape

Attack on two prisons comes amid outbreak of violence as PM in Kenya trying to salvage UN-backed security force

Haiti has declared a three-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew after armed gangs stormed the country's two biggest jails, allowing more than 3,000 dangerous criminals, including murderers and kidnappers, to escape back on to the streets of the poor and violence-racked Caribbean nation.

The finance minister, Patrick Boisvert - who is in charge while the embattled prime minister, Ariel Henry, is abroad trying to salvage support for a UN-backed security force to stabilise Haiti - said police would use all legal means at their disposal" to recapture the prisoners and enforce the curfew.