WASHINGTON: A US couple was among three missionaries shot and killed by a gang outside a church in the Haitian capital, which has endured months of extreme violence with deadly assaults on hospitals, prisons and government buildings.

Missions in Haiti, an Oklahoma-based nonprofit founded in 2000, said Davy and Natalie Lloyd and a third person were killed in Port-au-Prince by armed men on Thursday evening.

The third victim was identified by US media outlets as Jude Montis, the Haitian director of Missions in Haiti.

`Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o`clock this evening,` Missions in Haiti said on its Facebook page on Friday. `We all are devastated.` According to a police spokesperson, `the bandits entered the house and looted it before murdering the missionaries.` An investigation is underway, the official said.

In an earlier Facebook post, Missions in Haiti said that the missionaries were ambushed by a gang traveling in three vehicles.

`Davy was taken to the house tied up and beat,` it said. `The gang then took our trucks and loaded everything up they wanted and left.` Members of another gang then arrived and `went into full attack mode, the post added.

Responding to the deaths, the White House called for the swift deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force in Haiti to tackle rampant gang violence.-AFP