Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele would like his soldiers in Haiti to operate independently of the UN-authorized Gang Suppression Force (GSF), under the direct authority of their own commander on the ground, the Miami Herald reported, according to Juno7. No official announcement has confirmed how the troops will be commanded.

The Miami Herald counted about 450 Salvadoran soldiers in Haiti as of Saturday, October 24, with more expected. Juno7, citing a Reuters report quoting a Haitian security official, said about 1,000 Salvadoran soldiers had been sent in recent days. On Monday, Salvadoran forces and the Haitian police carried out a joint operation in the Bon Repos area, according to the Miami Herald.

The deployment follows the disappearance of four Salvadoran aviation technicians after an ambush on October 18 in Santo, in Croix-des-Bouquets. The GSF said on Sunday it had received burned human remains suspected to be theirs but could not confirm their identity. Bukele rejected that, saying: “They are not our men,” The Haitian Times reported.

The GSF also said a Chadian soldier whose military ID card circulated on social media had lost it during the search and was safe with his unit. The fate of the four Salvadorans remained unknown on Tuesday.