PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s international airport closed Monday after gangs opened fire on a commercial flight landing in Port-au-Princeprompting some airlines to temporarily suspend operations while the country swore in a new interim prime minister who promised to restore peace.

The Spirit Airlines flight headed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-au-Prince was just hundreds of meters from landing in Haiti’s capital when gangs fired on the plane, hitting a flight attendant, who suffered minor injuries, according to the US airline. . Embassy data and flight tracking. The flight was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic.

Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes inside a plane.

The shooting appeared to be part of what the U.S. Embassy called “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince, which may include armed violence and disruptions on roads, ports and airports.” Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines said Monday they would cancel flights to and from Haiti.

Shootouts broke out elsewhere in Haiti’s capital between gangs and police. Bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets as heavily armed officers hid behind walls and civilians fled in terror. In other upper-class areas, gangs burned down houses. Schools closed as panic spread in several areas.

Journalists protect themselves from an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Odelyn Joseph

The unrest comes a day after a council aimed at restoring democratic order in the Caribbean nation. fired interim Prime Minister Garry Conillereplacing him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The council has been marked by infighting and three members They were recently accused of corruption..

Upon taking the oath of office, Fils-Aimé said his top priorities were to restore peace to the crisis-hit nation and hold elections, which have not been held in Haiti since 2016.

“There is a lot to do to restore hope,” he told a room full of suit-clad diplomats and security officials. “I feel deeply for the people… who have been victimized, forced to give up everything they own.”

The country has seen weeks of political chaos, which observers warned could result in even more violence in a place where bloodshed has become the new normal. The country’s gangs have long taken advantage of political turmoil to seize power, shut down airports and seaports and cause chaos.

The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince, while a UN-backed mission led by Kenya Police to quell gang violence struggles with lack of funds and personnel, prompting calls for a UN peacekeeping mission.

Louis-Henri Mars, executive director of Lakou Lapè, an organization that works on peacebuilding in violent areas of Haiti, said the political fight has “allowed gangs more freedom to attack more neighborhoods in the city and expand its control of Puerto Rico. au-Prince. He fears that civilians will suffer the consequences.

“There will be more lives lost, more internal displacement and more hunger in a country where half the population is on the brink of starvation,” he said.

The transitional council was established in April, tasked with electing Haiti’s next prime minister and cabinet in the hope that it will help quell violence, which erupted after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The council was to pave the way for democratic elections. The gangs have capitalized on that power vacuum to seize their own power.

But the council has been plagued by politics and infighting, and has been at odds with Conille for a long timethe interim prime minister they elected six months ago and fired yesterday.

Organizations such as the Organization of American States tried unsuccessfully last week to mediate disagreements in an attempt to salvage the fragile transition.

On Monday, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujaric urged everyone involved in Haiti’s democratic transition to “work together constructively,” though he stopped short of offering an opinion on the move to oust Conille.

“Overcoming their differences and putting the country first remains essential,” he said. “The important thing is that Haitian political leaders put Haiti’s interests first.”

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Associated Press reporter David Koenig contributed to this report from Dallas and Pierre-Richard Luxama contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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