El Salvador will deploy more than 2,000 soldiers in Haiti to search for four Salvadoran military technicians missing since an October 18 ambush, the Salvadoran foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, October 28, describing a large-scale operation backed by several countries and international organizations.

The statement said President Nayib Bukele spoke by phone with Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé about the rescue operation and about keeping El Salvador's mission in Haiti. Le Nouvelliste reported that it was the first phone call between the two leaders, after earlier contacts between their teams and foreign ministers.

The prime minister's office said both countries committed to stronger coordination and operational cooperation, including within the Gang Suppression Force. The Haitian government, which calls the disappearance a kidnapping, expressed solidarity with the soldiers' families and stressed cooperation that respects the authority of the Haitian state.

It remains unclear whether the new troops will serve under the Gang Suppression Force or operate separately, Al Jazeera noted. HaitiLibre reported that a Colombian Air Force C-130H transport plane made a first logistics flight from San Salvador to Port-au-Prince on October 27, according to flight trackers and the Salvadoran press.