The United States called for its citizens to leave Haiti "as soon as possible" after violence escalated late last week, when 15,000 more people fled the fighting and armed men broke thousands of inmates from Haiti's largest prison.

The United States, which is home to over a million Haitians, said its embassy would be offering limited operations on Monday while Canada said it would temporarily close its embassy.

Armed gangs in Haiti's capital released roughly 4,000 inmates from the country's largest prison after a days-long gun battle with police on Sunday.

The vast majority of the 4,000 men held in the Port-au-Prince jail successfully escaped, according to reports from local media. Many of the inmates were gang members charged in connection with the 2021 assassination of Hatian President Jovenel Moise.

Authorities in Haiti have ordered a nighttime curfew after an explosion of violence when gang gunmen overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.

A 72-hour state of emergency began Sunday night. The government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other criminals who fled.

“The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, the acting prime minister.