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Haiti was plunged deeper into chaos over the weekend after a deadly gang assault on the capital's main prison allowed thousands of inmates to escape.

Dozens were killed in the 'massacre' and only around 100 of Port-au-Prince's National Penitentiary's estimated 3,800 inmates were still inside the facility Sunday after the assault, Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights said.

The Caribbean country's government declared a state of emergency on Sunday - as well as a night-time curfew - in a bid to regain control amid a surge in violence.

But there was no sign of the violence abating.

Powerful gang leader Jimmy Cherisier, known by the nickname Barbecue, said in a video posted on social media that armed groups in Haiti were acting in concert 'to get Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down.'

This was after a visit by the country's controversial Prime Minister to Kenya to sign a deal that will see police from the East African country deployed to Haiti to lead a UN-backed law and order mission to the gang-plagued nation.

About a dozen people were killed as gang members attacked the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince overnight Saturday into Sunday, AFP reported.

'We counted many prisoners' bodies,' Esperance said of the attack. 

An AFP news agency reporter who visited the prison on Sunday observed around a dozen bodies outside it and hardly anyone inside. 

Some bodies had wounds from bullets or other projectiles.

In its statement late Sunday, the Haitian government said security forces had 'received orders to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and detain those who violate it.'

It said the objective was to allow the government to 're-establish order and take the appropriate measures to take back control of the situation.'

Economy Minister Patrick Michel Boisvert signed the statement as the country's acting prime minister.

The attack came as part of a new spate of extreme violence in the Haitian capital, where well-armed gangs who control much of the city have wreaked havoc  for years - with violence spiking since Thursday.

At least nine people had been killed since Thursday - four of them police officers - as gangs stepped up coordinated attacks on state institutions in Port-au-Prince, including the country's international airport and the national soccer stadium. 

But the attack on the National Penitentiary late Saturday was a big shock to Haitians, even though they are accustomed to living under the constant threat of violence. 

The gangs say they want to oust Henry, who has led the crisis-wracked Caribbean nation since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021.

In an attempt to tackle the violence, the government declared a 72-hour state of emergency on Sunday, as well as a night-time curfew.