Gangs in Haiti open fire, hitting a UN helicopter in mid-air as violence increases

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs opened fire Thursday, attacking a U.N. helicopter and forcing it to land in Port-au-Prince. This was the latest attack in Haiti’s capital as violence once again increased.

No one was injured when multiple shots hit the helicopter carrying three crew members and 15 passengers, according to a UN source who was not authorized to confirm the incident. The helicopter, which had flown from Port-au-Prince before the attack, landed safely, the source said.

The attack came five months after Haiti’s main international airport reopened after coordinated gang attacks that forced it to close for almost three months.

The violence has spread to surrounding areas, including Arcahaie, where about 50 suspected gang members died this week after attacking the coastal town northwest of the capital. Among the dead were at least a dozen gunmen who drowned after their boat capsized, a government official said Thursday.

While most were killed by police, a group of gunmen drowned on Wednesday after their boat hit the reef while transporting ammunition to gangs attacking the town of Arcahaie, said Wilner Réné of Haiti’s civil protection agency.

He told Radio Caraïbes that the attack began on Monday when gunmen burned houses and cars across Arcahaie.

When the gangs ran out of ammunition, they hid in nearby areas and were tracked down by residents and police, he said.

The attack is still ongoing and Réné warned that officers on the scene urgently need reinforcements from soldiers and special police units.

A gang coalition called Viv Ansanm is blamed for the attack has targeted communities in Port-au-Prince in the last few days. These attacks have displaced more than 10,000 people in the capital in just a week, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration. More than half of the homeless were crowded into 14 makeshift shelters, including schools. The rest are temporarily staying with relatives.

The rise in gang violence comes just months after a United Nations-backed mission began under the leadership of the Kenyan police aimed at curbing a rise in violence from gangs that control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince. More than 700,000 people were left homeless and thousands were killed.

The U.S. government and senior Haitian officials have warned that the Kenya-led mission is lacking staff and money and have called for it to be replaced with a UN peacekeeping mission.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico

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