Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers in his private residence overnight in a "barbaric act" shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning the government said, stirring fears of escalating turmoil in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

The 53-year-old president's wife, Martine Moise, was also shot in the attack that took place around 1 a.m. local time and was receiving medical treatment, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in a statement. "A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state," he said.