A notorious gang is behind the kidnap of a group of North American missionaries near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, officials say.

The five men, seven women and five children were returning from a visit to an orphanage when they were abducted on Saturday.

Officials say they are being held by the 400 Mawozo gang - also blamed for the kidnap of Catholic clergy in April.

Haiti has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world.

This year has been particularly bad, with more than 600 kidnappings recorded in the first three quarters of 2021, compared with 231 over the same period last year, according to a local civil society group.

The rise has come in the wake of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination in July, as rival factions fight to gain control of the country in the face of a struggling police force.

Four Iranian intelligence officials have been charged with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist critical of Iran, US prosecutors say. The indictment did not name the target, but Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American author and activist, says it was her.

The conspirators, who all live in Iran and remain at large, also allegedly plotted to lure a person in the UK and three others in Canada to Iran. All of the targets had been critical of Iran, according to the indictment.

The US justice department says the Iranian officials sought to lure the New York-based journalist to a third country where the abduction was planned. The plotters even offered money to the writer's relatives in Iran to betray them, which they refused to do, the indictment contends.

They hired private investigators to spy on the target's Brooklyn home and family, and set up a live video feed of the property. They also researched a service offering military-style speedboats for evacuation from New York City, and maritime routes to Venezuela, an ally of Iran.

There was no immediate response from the Iranian government.