Plane hit by gunfire while approaching Haiti airport

A Spirit Airlines flight destined for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince has been struck by gunfire, forcing it to be diverted to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

The company said in a statement that the plane had been damaged and taken out of commission upon landing in the northern Dominican city of Santiago.

A flight attendant was injured in the incident, Spirit said. The Miami Herald reported that they were grazed by a bullet.

No passengers were injured, the airline added.

A video circulating on social media, which appears to have been taken by a Spirit employee, shows where a bullet had come through near a back door and struck an overhead luggage bin across the aisle.

All flights in and out of Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince have been halted, the US embassy to Haiti said in a travel advisory.

The embassy "is aware of gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports and airports," it added.

Spirit said that it had suspended flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, in Haiti's north, "pending further evaluation".

The passengers will be taken back in another aircraft to Fort Lauderdale in the US state of Florida, where the flight had departed from, the airline added.

Armed gangs in Haiti's capital have shot at aircraft in recent weeks as the security situation deteriorates.

Last month, a United Nations helicopter was hit by gunfire over Port-au-Prince.

The International Air Transport Association said it "strongly condemns" attacks on civilian aircraft in Haiti.

"These actions threaten the safety of passengers and crew, disrupt essential air connectivity, and hinder the movement of goods and humanitarian aid critical for the Haitian people," the association said in a social media post.

Meanwhile, businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime has been sworn in as Haiti's new prime minister, promising to restore security in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation after his predecessor was ousted after just five months in office.

Mr Fils-Aime replaces Garry Conille, who was appointed in late May, but has spent recent weeks locked in a power struggle with the country’s transitional council over ministerial appointments.

"We have a transition with lots of work to do: the first essential job, which is a condition for success, is restoring security," he said.

Mr Fils-Aime said he is aware of Haiti's "difficult circumstances", but promised to put "all of my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause."

The unelected prime minister and the nine-member transitional council are faced with rampant gang violence and tasked with preparing the path for presidential elections next year.

Mr Conille has questioned the authority of the council to sack him, and the row looks set to deepen a political crisis in Haiti, whose presidency has remained vacant since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021.

There is no sitting parliament, either, and the last elections were held in 2016.

The country has long been saddled with political instability, grinding poverty, natural disasters and gang violence.

But conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.

Unelected and unpopular, Mr Henry stepped down amid the turmoil, handing power to the transitional council, which has US and regional backing.

Despite the arrival of a Kenyan-led police support mission, violence has continued to soar.

A recent United Nations report said that more than 1,200 people were killed from July to September, with persistent kidnappings and sexual violence against women and girls.

Leaders must put Haiti's interests 'first and foremost' - UN

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged all sides in Haiti to "work constructively" together to ensure the integrity of the transition process, according to his spokesman.

"It's not for the secretary general to choose who will be the prime minister of Haiti," Stephane Dujarric added.

"What is important is that Haitian political leaders put the interests of Haiti first and foremost."

Gangs in recent years have taken over about 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince as any semblance of governance evaporated.

The UN report said that gangs were digging trenches, using drones and stockpiling weapons as they change tactics to confront the Kenyan-led police force.

Gang leaders have strengthened defences for the zones they control and placed gas cylinders and Molotov cocktail bombs ready to use against police operations.

More than 700,000 people - half of them children - have fled their homes because of the gang violence, according to the International Organization for Migration.